Sample records for series showed good

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

This brochure, part of a series about good practices in vocational training in the European Union, describes 10 projects that have promoted investment in human resources through training in the tourism sector to promote sustainable, or responsible, tourism. The projects and their countries of origin are as follows: (1) BEEFT, training of mobility…

Full Text Available In this article, we looked at power of various versions of Box and Pierce statistic and Cramer von Mises test. An extensive simulation study has been conducted to compare the power of these tests. Algorithms have been provided for the power calculations and comparison has also been made between the semi parametric bootstrap methods used for time series. Results show that Box-Pierce statistic and its various versions have good power against linear time series models but poor power against non linear models while situation reverses for Cramer von Mises test. Moreover, we found that dynamic bootstrap method is better than xed design bootstrap method.

Full Text Available International Boat Show, a business and tourist event, has been held annually in Italian city of Genoa since 1962. The fair is one of the oldest, largest and best known in the field of boating industry worldwide, primarily due to good management of the event and it can serve as case study for domestic fair organizers to improve the quality of their business and services. Since Belgrade is the city of fairs, but compared to Genoa still underdeveloped in terms of trade shows, the following tasks imposed naturally in this study: to determine the relationship of the organizers of Genoa Boat Show in the sector of preparation and fair offer, in the sector of selection and communication with specific target groups (especially visitors, services during the fair and functioning of the city during the fair. During the research the authors have mostly used historical method, comparison, synthesis and the interview method. The results of theoretical research, in addition, may help not only managers of fair shows and of exhibitions, but also to organizers of other events in our country

The Paks-3 unit in Hungary was the first VVER (Soviet designed Pressurized Water Reactor) to be scrutinized by an International Atomic Energy Agency Operational Safety Analysis Review Team. A number of examples of good operational practice were noted. Those reported here include the cleanliness of the plant, the management attitude to training, early detection of and action to correct problems as they arise, an accident avoidance policy, a back-up research and development programme, and the provision of computer-based assistance to the operator to present operational data in an easily comprehensible form. (U.K.)

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

This brochure, part of a series about good practices in vocational training in the European Union, describes 12 projects that use distance learning to promote lifelong learning in adults. The projects and their countries of origin are as follows: (1) 3D Project, training in the use of IT tools for 3D simulation and animation and practical…

Full Text Available Several N-alkyl and N,N-dialkylaminomethanesulfonic acids were synthesized (as zwitterions and/or sodium salts to be tested for utility as biological buffers at lower pH levels than existing Good buffer compounds (aminoalkanesulfonates with a minimum of two carbons between amine and sulfonic acid groups as originally described by Norman Good, and in common use as biological buffers. Our hypothesis was that a shorter carbon chain (one carbon between the amino and sulfonic acid groups should lower the ammonium ion pKa values. The alkylaminomethanesulfonate compounds were synthesized in aqueous solution by reaction of primary or secondary amines with formaldehyde/sodium hydrogensulfite addition compound. The pKa values of the ammonium ions of this series of compounds (compared to existing Good buffers was found to correlate well with the length of the carbon chain between the amino and sulfonate moeties, with a significant decrease in amine basicity in the aminomethanesulfonate compounds (pKa decrease of 2 units or more compared to existing Good buffers. An exception was found for the 2-hydroxypiperazine series which shows only a small pKa decrease, probably due to the site of protonation in this compound (as confirmed by X-ray crystal structure. X-ray crystallographic structures of two members of the series are reported. Several of these compounds have pKa values that would indicate potential utility for buffering at pH levels below the normal physiological range (pKa values in the range of 3 to 6 without aqueous solubility problems – a range that is problematic for currently available Good buffers. Unfortunately, the alkylaminomethanesulfonates were found to degrade (with loss of their buffering ability at pH levels below the pKa value and were unstable at elevated temperature (as when autoclaving – thus limiting their utility.

Objective: To determine if a series of 4 15-minute, theory-driven (Social Cognitive Theory) cooking programs aimed at college students living off campus improved cooking self-efficacy, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors regarding fruit and vegetable intake. Design: A randomized controlled trial with pre-, post- and follow-up tests. Setting:…

Repeated contexts allow us to find relevant information more easily. Learning such contexts has been proposed to depend upon either global processing of the repeated contexts, or alternatively processing of the local region surrounding the target information. In this study, we measured the extent to which observers were by default biased to process towards a more global or local level. The findings showed that the ability to use context to help guide their search was strongly related to an observer's local/global processing bias. Locally biased people could use context to help improve their search better than globally biased people. The results suggest that the extent to which context can be used depends crucially on the observer's attentional bias and thus also to factors and influences that can change this bias.

Full Text Available Conservation planners often wish to predict how species distributions will change in response to environmental changes. Species distribution models (SDMs are the primary tool for making such predictions. Many methods are widely used; however, they all make simplifying assumptions, and predictions can therefore be subject to high uncertainty. With global change well underway, field records of observed range shifts are increasingly being used for testing SDM transferability. We used an unprecedented distribution dataset documenting recent range changes of British vascular plants, birds, and butterflies to test whether correlative SDMs based on climate change provide useful approximations of potential distribution shifts. We modelled past species distributions from climate using nine single techniques and a consensus approach, and projected the geographical extent of these models to a more recent time period based on climate change; we then compared model predictions with recent observed distributions in order to estimate the temporal transferability and prediction accuracy of our models. We also evaluated the relative effect of methodological and taxonomic variation on the performance of SDMs. Models showedgood transferability in time when assessed using widespread metrics of accuracy. However, models had low accuracy to predict where occupancy status changed between time periods, especially for declining species. Model performance varied greatly among species within major taxa, but there was also considerable variation among modelling frameworks. Past climatic associations of British species distributions retain a high explanatory power when transferred to recent time--due to their accuracy to predict large areas retained by species--but fail to capture relevant predictors of change. We strongly emphasize the need for caution when using SDMs to predict shifts in species distributions: high explanatory power on temporally-independent records

Opioid peptides are neuromodulators that bind to opioid receptors and reduce pain sensitivity. Endomorphins are among the most active endogenous opioid peptides, and they have good affinity and selectivity toward the μ opioid receptor. However, their clinical usage is hindered by their inability to cross the blood-brain barrier and their poor in vivo activity after peripheral injection. In order to overcome these defects, we have designed and synthesized a series of novel endomorphin analogs with multiple site modifications. Radioligand binding, cAMP accumulation, and β-arrestin-2 recruitment assays were employed to determine the activity of synthesized endomorphin analogs toward opioid receptors. The blood-brain barrier permeability and antinociceptive effect of these analogs were determined in several rodent models of acute and persistent pain. In addition, the side effects of the analogs were examined. The radioligand binding assay and functional activity examination indicated that the MEL-N16 series of compounds were more active agonists against μ opioid receptor than were the parent peptides. Notably, the analogs displayed biased downstream signaling toward G-protein pathways over β-arrestin-2 recruitment. The analogs showed highly potent antinociceptive effects in the tested nociceptive models. In comparison with endomorphins, the synthesized analogs were better able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and exerted their pain regulatory activity in the central nervous system after peripheral injection. These analogs also have lower tendency to cause side effects than morphine does at similar or equal antinociceptive doses. The MEL-N16 compounds have highly potent and efficacious analgesic effects in various pain models with a favorable side effect profile.

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

This document profiles 10 European programs that exemplify good practice in building skills and qualifications among employees of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The programs profiled are as follows: (1) TRICTSME (a program providing World Wide Web-based information and communication technologies training for SMEs in manufacturing); (2)…

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

This document profiles nine European programs that exemplify good practice in social and occupational integration of disadvantaged people. The programs profiled are as follows: (1) Restaurant Venezia (a CD-ROM program to improve the reading and writing skills of young people in Luxembourg who have learning difficulties); (2) an integrated…

Many antibiotics have no effect on Gram-positive and Gram-negative microbes, which necessitates the prescription of broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents that can lead to increased risk of antibiotic resistance. These pathogens constitute a further threat because they are also resistant to numerous beta-lactam antibiotics, as well as other antibiotic groups. This study retrospectively investigates antimicrobial resistance in hospitalized patients suffering from pneumonia triggered by Gram-negative Serratia marcescens or Proteus mirabilis. The demographic and clinical data analyzed in this study were obtained from the clinical databank of the HELIOS Clinic, Witten/Herdecke University, Wuppertal, Germany, for inpatients presenting with pneumonia triggered by S. marcescens or P. mirabilis from 2004 to 2014. An antibiogram was conducted for the antibiotics utilized as part of the management of patients with pneumonia triggered by these two pathogens. Pneumonia was caused by Gram-negative bacteria in 115 patients during the study period from January 1, 2004, to August 12, 2014. Of these, 43 (37.4 %) hospitalized patients [26 males (60.5 %, 95 % CI 45.9 %-75.1 %) and 17 females (39.5 %, 95 % CI 24.9 %-54.1 %)] with mean age of 66.2 ± 13.4 years had pneumonia triggered by S. marcescens, while 20 (17.4 %) patients [14 males (70 %, 95 % CI 49.9 %-90.1 %) and 6 females (30 %, 95 % CI 9.9 %-50.1 %)] with a mean age of 64.6 ± 12.8 years had pneumonia caused by P. mirabilis. S. marcescens showed an increased antibiotic resistance to ampicillin (100 %), ampicillin-sulbactam (100 %), and cefuroxime (100 %). P. mirabilis had a high resistance to tetracycline (100 %) and ampicillin (55 %). S. marcescens (P showed no resistance to

Introduction. Severe leptospirosis, also known as Weil's disease, can cause multiorgan failure with high mortality. Scoring systems for disease severity have not been validated for leptospirosis, and there is no documented method to predict mortality. Methods. This is a case series on 10 patients admitted to ICU for multiorgan failure from severe leptospirosis. Data were collected retrospectively, with approval from the Institution Ethics Committee. Results. Ten patients with severe leptospirosis were admitted in the Patras University Hospital ICU in a four-year period. Although, based on SOFA scores, predicted mortality was over 80%, seven of 10 patients survived and were discharged from the hospital in good condition. There was no association between SAPS II or SOFA scores and mortality, but survivors had significantly lower APACHE II scores compared to nonsurvivors. Conclusion. Commonly used severity scores do not seem to be useful in predicting mortality in severe leptospirosis. Early ICU admission and resuscitation based on a goal-directed therapy protocol are recommended and may reduce mortality. However, this study is limited by retrospective data collection and small sample size. Data from large prospective studies are needed to validate our findings.

To reduce costly late-stage compound attrition, there has been an increased focus on assessing compounds in in vitro assays that predict attributes of human safety liabilities, before preclinical in vivo studies are done. Relevant questions when choosing a panel of assays for predicting toxicity are (a) whether there is general concordance in the data among the assays, and (b) whether, in a retrospective analysis, the rank order of toxicity of compounds in the assays correlates with the known safety profile of the drugs in humans. The aim of our study was to answer these questions using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as a test set since NSAIDs are generally associated with gastrointestinal injury, hepatotoxicity, and/or cardiovascular risk, with mitochondrial impairment and endoplasmic reticulum stress being possible contributing factors. Eleven NSAIDs, flufenamic acid, tolfenamic acid, mefenamic acid, diclofenac, meloxicam, sudoxicam, piroxicam, diflunisal, acetylsalicylic acid, nimesulide, and sulindac (and its two metabolites, sulindac sulfide and sulindac sulfone), were tested for their effects on (a) the respiration of rat liver mitochondria, (b) a panel of mechanistic endpoints in rat hepatocytes, and (c) the viability and organ morphology of zebrafish. We showgood concordance for distinguishing among/between NSAID chemical classes in the observations among the three approaches. Furthermore, the assays were complementary and able to correctly identify “toxic” and “non-toxic” drugs in accordance with their human safety profile, with emphasis on hepatic and gastrointestinal safety. We recommend implementing our multi-assay approach in the drug discovery process to reduce compound attrition. - Highlights: • NSAIDS cause liver and GI toxicity. • Mitochondrial uncoupling contributes to NSAID liver toxicity. • ER stress is a mechanism that contributes to liver toxicity. • Zebrafish and cell based assays are complimentary

To reduce costly late-stage compound attrition, there has been an increased focus on assessing compounds in in vitro assays that predict attributes of human safety liabilities, before preclinical in vivo studies are done. Relevant questions when choosing a panel of assays for predicting toxicity are (a) whether there is general concordance in the data among the assays, and (b) whether, in a retrospective analysis, the rank order of toxicity of compounds in the assays correlates with the known safety profile of the drugs in humans. The aim of our study was to answer these questions using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as a test set since NSAIDs are generally associated with gastrointestinal injury, hepatotoxicity, and/or cardiovascular risk, with mitochondrial impairment and endoplasmic reticulum stress being possible contributing factors. Eleven NSAIDs, flufenamic acid, tolfenamic acid, mefenamic acid, diclofenac, meloxicam, sudoxicam, piroxicam, diflunisal, acetylsalicylic acid, nimesulide, and sulindac (and its two metabolites, sulindac sulfide and sulindac sulfone), were tested for their effects on (a) the respiration of rat liver mitochondria, (b) a panel of mechanistic endpoints in rat hepatocytes, and (c) the viability and organ morphology of zebrafish. We showgood concordance for distinguishing among/between NSAID chemical classes in the observations among the three approaches. Furthermore, the assays were complementary and able to correctly identify “toxic” and “non-toxic” drugs in accordance with their human safety profile, with emphasis on hepatic and gastrointestinal safety. We recommend implementing our multi-assay approach in the drug discovery process to reduce compound attrition. - Highlights: • NSAIDS cause liver and GI toxicity. • Mitochondrial uncoupling contributes to NSAID liver toxicity. • ER stress is a mechanism that contributes to liver toxicity. • Zebrafish and cell based assays are complimentary.

Full Text Available The paper presents results of a statistical analysis of time series obtained in studies on the absolute level, variability, dynamics and developmental trends of selected items of national accounts in the transformation period of the Czech national economy and its transition to a market economy. The volume of gross turnover of goods and services, gross value added, gross domestic product and imports of goods and services were explored a base of final expenditure on the one hand and the volume of final consumption expenditure, gross capital formation, gross national final expenditure and exports of goods and services as factors influencing the volume of total final expenditures on the other. Short-terms point extrapolations were calculated on the basis of applied models of developmental trends within the period 1993– 2003.

To study the effects of infrared (IR) Sauna, a form of total-body hyperthermia in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients were treated for a 4-week period with a series of eight IR treatments. Seventeen RA patients and 17 AS patients were studied. IR was well

Good leadership is important if you like to have high quality in the results. My experience in the production of the television industry is that conditions for good leadership is insufficient. Therefore, I have tried to get answers for those two questions in my exam report: What are the characteristics of good leadership? What are the prerequisites for good leadership out of production? The method I used is a literature study and observation. I have read a number of books and research studies...

In postmodern capitalist market economies, management of the single organisation is bound to be guided by several rationales, which are in conflict with each other. For some writers this perception leads to the argument, that conceptions of management should strive towards goals beyond the present...... society. For others, the handling of plural perspectives is just a management discipline. However these positions seem to share a focus on organization as a the arena for the organization of the good. The contribution looks at the management of occupational accidents as an example of striving for good...

This article outlines the current state of law in Canada in respect to good faith in contratial relations. The topic is highly relevant due to expected growth in the numbers of contracts concluded between European and Canadian enterprises in the wake of adoption of the Comprehensive Economic...

Umbilical cord blood banking is one of many biomedical innovations that confront pregnant women with new choices about what they should do to secure their own and their child's best interests. Many mothers can now choose to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood (UCB) to a public cord blood bank or pay to store it in a private cord blood bank. Donation to a public bank is widely regarded as an altruistic act of civic responsibility. Paying to store UCB may be regarded as a "unique opportunity" to provide "insurance" for the child's future. This paper reports findings from a survey of Australian women that investigated the decision to either donate or store UCB. We conclude that mothers are faced with competing discourses that force them to choose between being a "good mother" and fulfilling their role as a "good citizen." We discuss this finding with reference to the concept of value pluralism.

textabstractManagers know that simply generating lots of ideas doesn’t necessarily produce good ones. What companies need are systems that nurture good ideas and cull bad ones—before they ever reach the decision maker’s desk. Our research shows that tapping the input of many people early in the

How did bioethics manage to grow, flourish and ultimately do so well from a very unpromising birth in the 1970s? Many explanations have been advanced. Some ascribe the field's growth to a puzzling, voluntary abnegation of moral authority by medicine to non-physicians. Some think bioethics survived by selling out to the biomedical establishment-public and private. This transaction involved bestowing moral approbation on all manner of biomedicine's doings for a seat at a well-stocked funding table. Some see a sort of clever intellectual bamboozlement at work wherein bioethicists pitched a moral elixir of objective expertise that the morally needy but unsophisticated in medicine and the biological sciences were eager to swallow. While each of these reasons has its defenders, I think the main reason that bioethics did well was that it did good. By using the media to move into the public arena, the field engaged the public imagination, provoked dialogue and debate, and contributed to policy changes that benefitted patients and healthcare providers. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

While financial markets have recently become more complete and international capital flows well liberalized, markets for goods remain segmented. To investigate how more complete security markets may relieve the effects of this segmentation, we examine a series of two-country economies with internationally segmented good markets, distinguished by the available financial securities. We show that, under heterogeneity within countries, the financial structure matters: even with internationally co...

We describe how to take a stable, ARMA, time series through the various stages of model identification, parameter estimation, and diagnostic checking, and accompany the discussion with a goodly number...

This edited collection shows that good parenthood is neither fixed nor stable. The contributors show how parenthood is equally done by men, women and children, in and through practices involving different normative guidelines. The book explores how normative layers of parenthood are constituted...... by notions such as good childhood, family ideals, national public health and educational strategies. The authors illustrate how different versions of parenthood coexist and how complex sets of actions are demanded to fulfil today’s expectations of parenthood in Western societies. This interdisciplinary book...

This article shows how game theory can be applied to model good faith mathematically using an example of a classic legal dispute related to rei vindicato. The issue is whether an owner has a legal right to his good if a person has bought it in good faith by using updated probabilities. The article...

Richard A. Silverman's series of translations of outstanding Russian textbooks and monographs is well-known to people in the fields of mathematics, physics, and engineering. The present book is another excellent text from this series, a valuable addition to the English-language literature on Fourier series.This edition is organized into nine well-defined chapters: Trigonometric Fourier Series, Orthogonal Systems, Convergence of Trigonometric Fourier Series, Trigonometric Series with Decreasing Coefficients, Operations on Fourier Series, Summation of Trigonometric Fourier Series, Double Fourie

This article explores ‘childing’ pratices in relation to family supermarket shopping in Denmark. ‘Parenting’ practices have been explored for long but little attention has been given to how children strive to be ‘good’ children, who live up to certain standards and recognize what they perceive...... to be appropriate child and parental behavior. The study takes a practice theoretical perspective, building on previous research on family consumption, and draws empirically on 35 interviews with 5–6 year-olds and 13 family interviews. Findings show that the children recognize the position of ‘the good child......’ and most often prefer to take on this position, which is confirmed by their parents. The children can describe how ‘the good child’—in their eyes—should behave. They prefer consensus and not being embarrassing or embarrassed. The study concludes that the children are strongly immersed in social norms...

To assess the effectiveness and feasibility of behavioral sleep intervention for medicated children with ADHD. Six medicated children (five boys, one girl; aged 6-12 years) with ADHD participated in a 4-week sleep intervention program. The main behavioral strategies used were Faded Bedtime With Response Cost (FBRC) and positive reinforcement. Within a case-series design, objective measure (Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children [SDSC]) and subjective measure (sleep diaries) were used to record changes in children's sleep. For all six children, significant decrease was found in the severity of children's sleep problems (based on SDSC data). Bedtime resistance and mean sleep onset latency were reduced following the 4-week intervention program according to sleep diaries data. Gains were generally maintained at the follow-up. Parents perceived the intervention as being helpful. Based on the initial data, this intervention shows promise as an effective and feasible treatment.

This text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students presents a rigorous approach that also emphasizes applications. Encompassing more than the usual amount of material on the problems of computation with series, the treatment offers many applications, including those related to the theory of special functions. Numerous problems appear throughout the book.The first chapter introduces the elementary theory of infinite series, followed by a relatively complete exposition of the basic properties of Taylor series and Fourier series. Additional subjects include series of functions and the app

Goods and Services Tax is a broad based and a single comprehensive tax levied on goods and services consumed in an economy. GST is levied at every stage of the production-distribution chain with applicable set offs in respect of the tax remitted at previous stages. It is basically a tax on final consumption. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a value added tax to be implemented in India, the decision on which is pending. GST is the only indirect tax that directly affects all sectors and sect...

This report gives details of a project to make the Good Practice Guidelines, which were developed to help the UK Bioenergy industry, the national and local governments, and the public, more widely available. Details concerning the designing of a Good Practice Programme, and the proposed codes of Good Practice programme are given, and general relevant good practice guidance documents are discussed. The stakeholder survey and workshop, and the proposed codes of a Good Practice Programme are presented in Annexes. (UK)

to improve their communicative effectiveness. The feedback was given by experienced tutors of English who had extensive experience of teaching and assessing English in an everyday ELF context. This paper sets out to investigate what sort of recommendations were provided, concentrating on the 24 lecturers...... whose L1 was Danish. An examination of the tutors’ comments showed that they could be divided into two main categories: formal language skills and pragmatic or metadiscursive features. The observations on language features are presented using a slightly adapted version of Lavelle’s (2008) “good......; Jenkins et al. 2011: 301), the analyses of the tutors’ comments to the 24 lecturers in the present study show that both aspects should be attributed importance....

The basis for a good contract is that it is beneficial to both parties. A good foundation will cement the responsibilities and obligations of the parties after areas of agreement have been negotiated. Unfortunately, software licenses do not always reflect what is best for all. Some clauses are definitely for the benefit of the vendor, while others are required by a prudent client. The resulting contract is then a matter of reasonable compromise to achieve a good business relationship. Major issues of warranty, liability, training, support, and payment may be in conflict. Such topics as maintenance, testing, patents, extent of use, and return of software are often overlooked or addressed unevenly. This paper addresses these subjects and provides guidelines for software licenses. An understanding of legal phrases is of value. A better understanding of the viewpoints of both the vendor and the client results in a better working relationship

An analysis of the rules governing trade in goods under the GATT agreement and the Agreement on Safeguards......An analysis of the rules governing trade in goods under the GATT agreement and the Agreement on Safeguards...

Early years mathematics classrooms can be colourful, exciting, and challenging places of learning. Andrea McDonough and fellow teachers have noticed that some students make good decisions about using materials to assist their problem solving, but this is not always the case. These experiences lead her to ask the following questions: (1) Are…

The anti-reenactment 'Show-Bix &' consists of 5 dias projectors, a dial phone, quintophonic sound, and interactive elements. A responsive interface will enable the Dias projectors to show copies of original dias slides from the Show-Bix piece ”March på Stedet”, 265 images in total. The copies are...

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) offers several different Chart Series with data on beneficiary health status, spending, operations, and quality...

This paper argues against the prescriptive notions of Peace Journalism, and in particular its exclusive nature and attempt to define itself as a new orthodoxy. Most of the paper is a critique of the work of Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick, in a book published in 2005, as well as their earlier Reporting the World series. They condemn all other ways of reporting as 'War Journalism, biased in favour of war.' I argue instead that the opposite of Peace Journalism is good journalism. Much of ...

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

This document profiles programs in the fields of health and medicine that are offered through the European Commission's Leonardo da Vinci program. The following programs are profiled: (1) CYTOTRAIN (a transnational vocational training program in cervical cancer screening); (2) Apollo (a program of open and distance learning for paramedical…

Commission of the European Communities, Brussels (Belgium). Directorate-General for Education and Culture.

This document profiles recent successful examples of students studying and working abroad as part of the European Commission's Leonardo da Vinci program, which is designed to give students across the European Union the opportunity to experience vocational training in a foreign country. The following examples are presented: (1) 3 Finnish students…

Conclusions: The simulated results obtained with the ARIMA model compared to the observed data showed a fairly good adjustment of the minimum and maximum magnitudes. This allows concluding that it is a good tool for estimating minimum and maximum volumes, even though this model is not capable of simulating the exact behaviour of an annual volume time series.

The concept of the common good occupied a relevant place in classical social, political and economic philosophy. After losing ground in the Modern age, it has recently reappeared, although with different and sometimes confusing meanings. This paper is the draft of a chapter of a Handbook; it explains the meaning of common good in the Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy and in the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church; why the common good is relevant; and how it is different from the other uses...

The course 'Transport of hazardous goods' was held in Berlin in November 1988 in cooperation with the Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung. From all lecturs, two are recorded separately: 'Safety of tank trucks - requirements on the tank, development possibiities of active and passive safety' and 'Requirements on the transport of radioactive materials - possible derivations for other hazardous goods'. The other lectures deal with hazardous goods law, requirements on packinging, risk assessment, railroad transport, hazardous goods road network, insurance matters, EC regulations, and waste tourism. (HSCH) [de

This paper continues the study of ETOL forms and good EOL forms done by Maurer, Salomaa and Wood. It is proven that binary very complete ETOL forms exist, good synchronized ETOL forms exist and that no propagating or synchronized ETOL form can be very complete.......This paper continues the study of ETOL forms and good EOL forms done by Maurer, Salomaa and Wood. It is proven that binary very complete ETOL forms exist, good synchronized ETOL forms exist and that no propagating or synchronized ETOL form can be very complete....

In some recent papers I have been arguing that the concept ‘good-for’ is prior to the concept of ‘good’ (in the sense in which final ends are good), and exploring the implications of that claim. One of those implications is that everything that is good is good for someone. That implication seems to fall afoul of our intuitions about certain cases, such as the intuition that a world full of happy people and animals is better than a world full of miserable ones, even if the people and animals a...

User interaction with radio and television programmes is not a new thing. However, with new cross-media production concepts such as X Factor and Voice, this is changing dramatically. The second-screen logic of these productions encourages viewers, along with TV’s traditional one-way communication...... mode, to communicate on interactive (dialogue-enabling) devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets. Using the TV show Voice as our example, this article shows how the technological and situational set-up of the production invites viewers to engage in new ways of interaction and communication...

Proposes having students perform skits in which they play the roles of the science concepts they are trying to understand. Provides the dialog for a skit in which hot and cold gas molecules are interviewed on a talk show to study how these properties affect wind, rain, and other weather phenomena. (MDH)

Part of the acceptance speech of the 1985 National Council for the Social Studies Teacher of the Year, this article describes the censorship experience of this honored social studies teacher. The incident involved the showing of a videotape version of the feature film entitled "The Seduction of Joe Tynan." (JDH)

textabstract Good governance is not a new concept Ambrogio Lorenzetti made his frescoes on good and bad governance already in the years 1338-1340 They can be viewed in the Palazzo Publicco on one of the most beautiful squares of the world, the Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy I assume many of you

It is argued that the Supreme Court's Bakke decision overturning the University of California's minority admissions program is good for those who favor affirmative action programs in higher education. The Supreme Court gives wide latitude for devising programs that take race and ethnic background into account if colleges are acting in good faith.…

GOOD is an acronym, standing for Graph-Oriented Object Database. GOOD is being developed as a joint research effort of Indiana University and the University of Antwerp. The main thrust behind the project is to indicate general concepts that are fundamental to any graph-oriented database

, physical cleanliness, honesty, gratitude and lifestyle adaptations (taking pills correctly andcoming to the clinic when told). As healthcare workers may decide to punish patients who do not live up the‘good patient persona’, many patients seek to perform within the confines of the ‘good patient persona...

Examines the working lives of geneticists and journalists to place into perspective what lies behind personal ethics and success. Defines "good work" as productive activity that is valued socially and loved by people engaged in it. Asserts that certain cultural values, social controls, and personal standards are necessary to maintain good work and…

Suggestions are presented from parents on how to help children with disabilities (with particular focus on Downs Syndrome) learn good grooming habits in such areas as good health, exercise, cleanliness, teeth and hair care, skin care, glasses and other devices, and social behavior. (CB)

calciphylaxis is prevention through rigorous control of phosphate and calcium balance. We here present two ... The authors declared no conflict of interest. Introduction. Calciphylaxis is a rare but serious disorder .... were reported to resolve the calciphylaxis lesions in a chronic renal failure patient [20]. In a series of five.

polynomials are dense in the class of continuous functions! The body of literature dealing with Fourier series has reached epic proportions over the last two centuries. We have only given the readers an outline of the topic in this article. For the full length episode we refer the reader to the monumental treatise of. A Zygmund.

The theory of Fourier series deals with periodic functions. By a periodic ..... including Dirichlet, Riemann and Cantor occupied themselves with the problem of ... to converge only on a set which is negligible in a certain sense (Le. of measure ...

The Energy Show is a new look at the problems of world energy, where our supplies come from, now and in the future. The programme looks at how we need energy to maintain our standards of living. Energy supply is shown as the complicated set of problems it is - that Fossil Fuels are both raw materials and energy sources, that some 'alternatives' so readily suggested as practical options are in reality a long way from being effective. (author)

Mechanical handling apparatus is adapted to handle goods, such as boxed fruit, during a process of irradiation, in palletized form. Palletized goods are loaded onto wheeled vehicles in a loading zone. Four vehicles are wheeled on a track into an irradiation zone via a door in a concrete shield. The vehicles are arranged in orthogonal relationship around a source of square section. Turntables are positioned at corners of the square shaped rail truck around the source selectively to turn the vehicles to align then with track sections. Mechanical manipulating devices are positioned in the track sections opposed to sides of the source. During irradiation, the vehicles and their palletized goods are cylically moved toward the source to offer first sides of the goods for irradiation and are retraced from the source and are pivoted through 90 0 to persent succeeding sides of the goods for irradiation

In Norway, where breast-feeding policies protecting breast-feeding women's needs have been in place since the 1970s, approximately 97% of women breast feed when leaving the hospital, 80% are breast feeding at 3 months, and 20% beyond 12 months. Government family policies play an important role in enabling women to achieve good breast-feeding rates. In Norway: maternity leave is 42 weeks with full pay or 52 weeks with 80% of salary; flexible part-time is available for women from 2 months after giving birth with income supplemented from maternity benefits; after returning to work, women are entitled to 1- to 1.5-hour breaks to return home to breast feed, or to have the child brought to work. "Breast feeding is so normal," writes Hege Jacobson Lepri, "it's more embarrassing to bring out the feeding bottle in public." full text

Wholesale electricity markets are increasingly driven by the rules of competition while recent outages in different regions of the world suggest that security of supply is a public good. The objective of this paper is to show that security of supply and more generally, electricity supply has both public and private characteristics. Whilst the public good characteristic explains why some producers may prefer to free ride on others' investments to maintain reliability, the private good aspect of reliability shows that agents may have a variety of preferences for reliability. Then by relying on the concept of Pareto-relevant externality, the paper explores the private aspect of reliability for the prospect of creating and selling reliability as a differentiated product complementary to bulk power markets. Finally, policy recommendations are derived that aim to enhance information content in the network. Initially published in 'Revue de l'OFCE' No. 101

Full Text Available Customs control, is regulated by law in different countries. Different countries define through the law, the control of goods.. Main purpose of this paper is to analyze two types of customs controls, and their effect in reducing avoidance of duty or tax evasion which may be caused by the import of goods of certain companies. For this reason we researched which model is implemented in developing countries and what results were reached through questionnaires. In this sense the next research question, consists in defining the moment of customs control pre or post-clearance control of goods.

Full Text Available The paper is focused on a current problem of transport of counterfeit goods in the European Union. Counterfeiting has a strong influence on the distribution organizations worldwide because most of counterfeit goods threaten the health and safety of consumers. Counterfeiting is a serious problem in the world economy today. The purpose of this paper is to point out the danger of counterfeiting in connection with the transport of Intellectual Property (IP rights - infringing goods. Background of the paper’s content is based on secondary data research of publicly available sources - international statistics and world reports.

For decades humanitarianism has captured and shaped the dreams of the populations of the global North, dreams of a better world, of a common humanity, of goodness, of solidarity, and of global healing. In this article I argue that when taking art and cultural objects into account humanitarian......, Danmarks Indsamling [Denmark Collects], and the second is from Norwegian playwright Arne Lygre’s 2011 play, I Disappear. What is at stake in both of these scenes is the status of humanitarianism as a good-enough fantasy and promise of doing good....

Full Text Available When Su Cleyle and I first decided to start Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, one of the things we agreed upon immediately was that the journal be open access. We knew that a major obstacle to librarians using the research literature was that they did not have access to the research literature. Although Su and I are both academic librarians who can access a wide variety of library and information literature from our institutions, we belong to a profession where not everyone has equal access to the research in our field. Without such access to our own body of literature, how can we ever hope for practitioners to use research evidence in their decision making? It would have been contradictory to the principles of evidence based library and information practice to do otherwise.One of the specific groups we thought could use such an open access venue for discovering research literature was school librarians. School librarians are often isolated and lacking access to the research literature that may help them prove to stakeholders the importance of their libraries and their role within schools. Certainly, school libraries have been in decline and the use of evidence to show value is needed. As Ken Haycock noted in his 2003 report, The Crisis in Canada’s School Libraries: The Case for Reform and Reinvestment, “Across the country, teacher-librarians are losing their jobs or being reassigned. Collections are becoming depleted owing to budget cuts. Some principals believe that in the age of the Internet and the classroom workstation, the school library is an artifact” (9. Within this context, school librarians are looking to our research literature for evidence of the impact that school library programs have on learning outcomes and student success. They are integrating that evidence into their practice, and reflecting upon what can be improved locally. They are focusing on students and showing the impact of school libraries and

Reaktion Books’ Exposures series, edited by Peter Hamilton and Mark Haworth-Booth, is comprised of 13 volumes and counting, each less than 200 pages with 80 high-quality illustrations in color and black and white. Currently available titles include Photography and Australia, Photography and Spirit, Photography and Cinema, Photography and Literature, Photography and Flight, Photography and Egypt, Photography and Science, Photography and Africa, Photography and Italy, Photography and the USA, P...

In this paper we test the effect of non-binding defaults on the level of contribution to a public good. We manipulate the default numbers appearing on the decision screen to nudge subjects toward a free-rider strategy or a perfect conditional cooperator strategy. Our results show that the vast...

In this paper we test the effect of non-binding defaults on the level of contribution to a public good. We manipulate the default numbers appearing on the decision screen to nudge subjects toward a free-rider strategy or a perfect conditional cooperator strategy. Our results show that the vast...

with different search costs and willingness to wait. I demonstrate that the high-price-low-price pattern is rational for storable goods. In a Markov-perfect equilibrium, agents’ actions depend on consumer inventory, and purchase decisions are characterized by a critical price. The equilibrium price series...

The standard approach to the optimal provision of public goods highlights the importance of distortionary taxation and distributional concerns. A new approach neutralizes distributional concerns by adjusting the income tax schedule. We demonstrate that both approaches are derived from the same...... basic formula. We also take the new approach further by deriving an intuitive formula for the optimal level of public goods, without imposing strong assumptions on preferences. This formula shows that distortionary taxation has a role to play, as in the standard approach. However, the main determinants...

There currently exist two competing approaches in the literature on the optimal provision of public goods. The standard approach highlights the importance of distortionary taxation and distributional concerns. The new approach neutralizes distributional concerns by adjusting the non-linear income...... for the optimal level of a public good without imposing strong assumptions on preferences. This formula shows that distortionary taxation may have a role to play as in the standard approach. However, the main determinants of optimal provision are completely different and the traditional formula with its emphasis...

In this Letter, we propose a framework to transform a complex network to a time series. The transformation from complex networks to time series is realized by the classical multidimensional scaling. Applying the transformation method to a model proposed by Watts and Strogatz [Nature (London) 393, 440 (1998)], we show that ring lattices are transformed to periodic time series, small-world networks to noisy periodic time series, and random networks to random time series. We also show that these relationships are analytically held by using the circulant-matrix theory and the perturbation theory of linear operators. The results are generalized to several high-dimensional lattices.

Today, semantic concept based video retrieval systems often show insufficient performance for real-life applications. Clearly, a big share of the reason is the lacking performance of the detectors of these concepts. While concept detectors are on their endeavor to improve, following important

Full Text Available The present study aims to understand how Machiavellians switch from one kind of response to another in different circumstances to maximize their profit. We set up a specific experimental paradigm that involved both a cooperative and competitive version of a public goods game. We found that Machiavellianism accounts for the total amount of money paid by the players (N = 144 across five rounds in the cooperative but not in the competitive game. Compared with the others, individuals with higher scores on Mach scale contributed less to the public goods in the cooperative condition, but no difference was found in the competitive condition. Finally, this relationship was influenced by the sequence of the games. These results indicate that Machiavellians skillfully evaluate social environments and strive to exploit those with abundant contributions to public goods.

(ERNN, the empirical results show that the proposed neural network displays the best performance among these neural networks in financial time series forecasting. Further, the empirical research is performed in testing the predictive effects of SSE, TWSE, KOSPI, and Nikkei225 with the established model, and the corresponding statistical comparisons of the above market indices are also exhibited. The experimental results show that this approach gives good performance in predicting the values from the stock market indices.

Purpose – This paper aims to adopt service-dominant logic (SDL) to empirically explore network configurations resulting from the provision of goods, goods and services, and solutions. Design/methodology/approach – This paper uses a single, in-depth, exploratory case study in a truck manufacturer......: dyadic, triadic and tetradic. The extent to which different network actors contribute to value co-creation varies across the offerings. Research limitations/implications – This paper is based on a single, in-depth case study developed in one industrial context. Whilst this represents an appropriate...

This study attempted to assess the notion that a "good divorce" protects children from the potential negative consequences of marital dissolution. A cluster analysis of data on postdivorce parenting from 944 families resulted in three groups: cooperative coparenting, parallel parenting, and single parenting. Children in the cooperative coparenting…

Full Text Available Transformation of a totalitarian, basically administratively coordinated system into a democratic one that is coordinated predominantly by markets and competition has been triggered by, among others, the perception of a serious deficit in welfare and happiness. Public policy has a special task transforming the economic order by liberalisation, privatisation, stabilisation and the installation of institutions that are supportive for competition. After 15 years since transformation began, there are sufficiently differentiated success stories to test the hypothesis: it was good governance that is responsible for success and bad governance for failure. The empirical results support the “Lorenzetti hypothesis”: where freedom, security and trust prevail, the economy flourishes, where they are lacking, the costs of long-term investment are too high. The initial conditions of transition countries seem to be quite similar, nevertheless, even there one can discern good and bad governance. The extent of socialist lawfulness, planning security, cronyism and corruption differed widely between East Berlin and Tashkent. And a good deal of such variations can be found in the pre-socialist history of these countries. However, the main conclusion is that the co-evolution hypothesis states that both, welfare and good governance, go together.

In the basic Markowitz and Merton models, a stock’s weight in efficient portfolios goes up if its expected rate of return goes up. Put differently, there are no financial Giffen goods. By an example from mortgage choice we illustrate that for more complicated portfolio problems Giffen effects do...

This book, designed for students in grades 4 to 6, provides advice to help them do homework independently and successfully. Part 1, "Developing Good Habits," presents exercises and tips on organization and time management, including a self-inventory of homework habits, assistance in goal setting, and designing a personal schedule. Part 2, "Getting…

Our value system relating to the natural sciences is examined for its acceptability and worthiness. Scrutinized are the cognitive meanings about values, validity of values, subjective and cultural relativism, the good of objective realities, and cooperation with natural forces and God. (BL)

the Danish welfare state and the middle-class popula- tion is embodied in a responsibility for individual health. Overall, we identify a striving to be a ‘good citizen’; this entails confl icting moral possibilities in relation to experiencing, interpreting and acting on bodily sensations. We examine how...

The efficiency for a propeller is calculated by energy coefficients. These coefficients are related to four types of losses, i.e. the axial, the rotational, the frictional, and the finite blade number loss, and one gain, i.e. the axial gain. The energy coefficients are derived by use...... of the potential theory with the propeller modelled as an actuator disk. The efficiency based on the energy coefficients is calculated for a propeller series. The results show a good agreement between the efficiency based on the energy coefficients and the efficiency obtained by a vortex-lattice method....

The properties of null geodesic congruences (NGCs) in Lorentzian manifolds are a topic of considerable importance. More specifically NGCs with the special property of being shear-free or asymptotically shear-free (as either infinity or a horizon is approached) have received a great deal of recent attention for a variety of reasons. Such congruences are most easily studied via solutions to what has been referred to as the 'good cut equation' or the 'generalization good cut equation'. It is the purpose of this paper to study these equations and show their relationship to each other. In particular we show how they all have a four-complex-dimensional manifold (known as H-space, or in a special case as complex Minkowski space) as a solution space.

Civil society and its philanthropic and voluntary organisations are currently experiencing public and political attention and demands to safeguard society’s ‘common good’ through social cohesion and as providers of welfare services. This has raised the question by both practitioners and researchers...... that a distinction between the non-civil and the civil is more fruitful, if we want to understand the past, present and future messiness in place in defining the common good. Based on an ethnographic case analysis of a Danish corporate foundation between 1920 and 2014 the paper shows how philanthropic gift......-giving concepts, practices and operational forms throughout history have played a significant role in defining the common good and its future avenues. Through an analytical attitude based on microhistory, conceptual history and the sociology of translation it shows that civil society’s institutional logic always...

Full Text Available This paper derives the gravity equation with intermediate goods trade. We extend a standard monopolistic competition model to incorporate intermediate goods trade, and show that the gravity equation with intermediates trade is identical to the one without it except in that gross output should be used as the output measure instead of value added. We also show that the output elasticity of trade is significantly underestimated when value added is used as the output measure. This implies that with the conventional gravity equation, the contribution of output growth can be substantially underestimated and the role of trade costs reduction can be exaggerated in explaining trade expansion, as we demonstrate for the case of Korea's trade growth between 1995 and 2007.

Summary: Purpose: Control of luggage and shipped goods are frequently carried out. The possibilities of X-ray technology shall be demonstrated. Materials and methods: There are different imaging techniques. The main concepts are transmission imaging, backscatter imaging, computed tomography, and dual energy imaging and the combination of different methods The images come from manufacturers and personal collections. Results: The search concerns mainly, weapons, explosives, and drugs; furthermore animals, and stolen goods, Special problems offer the control of letters and the detection of Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). Conclusion: One has to expect that controls will increase and that imaging with X-rays will have their part. Pattern recognition software will be used for analysis enforced by economy and by demand for higher efficiency - man and computer will produce more security than man alone

Tritium is commonly used in groundwaters studies to calculate the recharge rate and to identify the presence of a modern recharge. The knowledge of 3 H precipitation time series is then very important for the study of groundwater recharge. Rozanski and Araguas provided good information on precipitation tritium content in 180 stations of the GNIP network to the end of 1987, but it shows some lacks of measurements either within one chronicle or within one region (the Southern hemisphere for instance). Therefore, it seems to be essential to find a method to recalculate data for a region where no measurement is available.To solve this problem, we propose another method which is based on triangulation. It needs the knowledge of 3 H time series of 3 stations surrounding geographically the 4-th station for which tritium input curve has to be reconstructed

We know that âtrees are good,â and most people believe this to be true. But if this is so, why are so many trees neglected, and so many tree wells empty? An individualâs attitude toward trees may result from their firsthand encounters with specific trees. Understanding how attitudes about trees are shaped, particularly aversion to trees, is critical to the business of...

Good governance is a broad concept used by many international organizations to spell out how states or countries should be governed. Definitions vary, but there is a clear core of common public values, such as transparency, accountability, effectiveness, and the rule of law. It is quite likely......, transparency, neutrality, impartiality, effectiveness, accountability, and legality. The normative context of public administration, as expressed in codes, seems to ignore the New Public Management and Reinventing Government reform movements....

The paper outlines the possibilities for mines to work with surrounding communities to bring about effective land reclamation. Last year Peabody Energy teams reclaimed more than 5000 acres of land and planted nearly 750,000 trees, demonstrating that sustainable development is possible in a way that is compatible with environmental improvement in coal mining. The company has won over 20 awards over the last two years. The North Antelope Rochelle Mine in Wyoming earned a Gold Good Neighbour Award for promoting best practices in environmental conservation and mining education. The Black Mesa and Kayenta mines, which operate on Navajo and Hopi lands in Arizona, were honoured with a Silver Good Neighbour Award and a National Excellence in Mining and Reclamation Award. These mines partnered with the tribes, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and local residents to give residents access to grazing land still under Peabody's control. The Farmersburg Mine in Indiana received the Bronze Good Neighbour Award for commitment to industry education and outreach activities. 5 photos.

Full Text Available Photo essay. A collection of Images produced by intentionally corrupting the circuitry of a Kodak DC280 2 MP digitalcamera. By rewiring the electronics of a digital camera, glitched images are produced in a manner that parallels chemically processing unexposed film or photographic paper to produce photographic images without exposure to light. The DCP Series of Digital Images are direct visualizations of data generated by a digital camera as it takes a picture. Electronic processes associated with the normal operations of the camera, which are usually taken for granted, are revealed through an act of intervention. The camera is turned inside­out through complexes of short­circuits, selected by the artist, transforming the camera from a picture taking device to a data capturing device that renders raw data (electronic signals as images. In essence, these images are snap­shots of electronic signals dancing through the camera's circuits, manually rerouted, written directly to the on­board memory device. Rather than seeing images of the world through a lens, we catch a glimpse of what the camera sees when it is forced to peer inside its own mind.

Lowell's poorly executed supervisor/employee interaction was a lose-lose proposition. If other employees feel that Sue is being treated unfairly, there will be negative repercussions throughout the system. Employees must have confidence that they will be treated in a fair and equal manner when they have problems on the job. If management is not consistent in handling these problems, employees will spend time second-guessing critical decisions, and patient care will suffer. Sue and Dunk did a good job with their clinical care of Maudie. With improved patient communication, Maudie might have understood the reasons for her treatment, and this complaint might never have been made.

This paper reports on a general overview of the State of Western Australia including: the legal framework of the Dangerous Goods and Emergency response management scenarios (which consist mainly of fuel products such as LP gas); particular problems unique to the Western Australian environment; what has been done to overcome those problems. Western Australia has an area of about two and a half million square kilometers. The demography of the State is such that the population is concentrated in the south-west corner of the State with isolated pockets, mainly associated with mineral development but also associated with agriculture, scattered throughout the State

The author states that the problem of nuclear wastes is solved. He states that 90 per cent of radioactive wastes are now permanently managed and that technical solutions for deep geological storage and for transmutation will soon solve the problem for the remaining 10 pc. He states that geological storage will be funded (it is included in electricity price). He denounces why these facts which he consider as good news, do not prevail. He proposes several documents in appendix: a text explaining the nuclear fuel cycle in France, and an extract of a report made by the national inventory of radioactive materials and wastes

Get past all the hype about PHP and dig into the real power of this language. This book explores the most useful features of PHP and how they can speed up the web development process, and explains why the most commonly used PHP elements are often misused or misapplied. You'll learn which parts add strength to object-oriented programming, and how to use certain features to integrate your application with databases. Written by a longtime member of the PHP community, PHP: The Good Parts is ideal for new PHP programmers, as well as web developers switching from other languages. Become familiar w

This field study was conducted at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Aalborg University with the intention to investigate how students reflect on their experiences with supervision in a PBL environment. The overall aim of this study was to inform about the continued work in strengthening supervision...... at this faculty. This particular study invited Master level students to discuss: • How a typical supervision process proceeds • How they experienced and what they expected of PBL in the supervision process • What makes a good supervision process...

Switch4Good is an energy-savings program that helps residents reduce consumption from behavior changes; it was co-developed by Balfour Beatty Military Housing Management (BB) and WattzOn in Phase I of this grant. The program was offered at 11 Navy bases. Three customer engagement strategies were evaluated, and it was found that Digital Nudges (a combination of monthly consumption statements with frequent messaging via text or email) was most cost-effective. The program was delivered on-time and on-budget, and its success is based on the teamwork of local BB staff and the WattzOn team. The following graphic shows Switch4Good “by the numbers”, e.g. the scale of operations achieved during Phase I.

The authors reflect on the article in this issue entitled "Borrow or Serve? An Economic Analysis of Options for Financing a Medical School Education" by Marcu and colleagues, which makes a compelling case that a medical school education is a good investment, no matter what financing option students use, from federal service programs to federal loans. The lead author of this Commentary shares lessons learned from his own medical school education, which was funded by an Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship, and from his current position interacting with medical students across the United States.Regardless of the financing path they choose, all students should understand basic financial concepts and the details of the various pathways that are available to pay for their medical school education, as well as how each could potentially impact their own future and that of their families. One underappreciated aspect of financing a medical school education is that federal repayment scenarios can link loan payments to income, rather than debt levels, which means that all physicians are able to afford their loan payments no matter what specialty they practice, what they are paid, or where they live.Medical education, while expensive, remains the good investment. An MD degree can lead to a lifetime of personal fulfillment and societal contributions. Everyone, with rare exceptions, accepted to a U.S. medical school will be able to finance their medical education via a path that aligns with their personal values and priorities.

Full Text Available The article endeavors to trace the outset of governance concept, its dominant meanings and discourse, and its implication towards governability. The central role of government in the governing processes has predominantly been adopted. The concept of governance was emerged precisely in the context of the failure of government as key player in regulation, economic redistribution and political participation. Governance is therefore aimed to emphasize pattern of governing which are based both on democratic mechanism and sound development management. However, practices of such good governance concept –which are mainly adopted and promoted by donor states and agencies– tend to degrade state and/or government authority and legitimacy. Traditional function of the state as sole facilitator of equal societal, political and legal membership among citizens has been diminished. The logic of fair competition has been substituted almost completely by the logic of free competition in nearly all sectors of public life. The concept and practices of good governance have resulted in decayed state authority and failed state which in turn created a condition for "ungovernability". By promoting democratic and humane governance, the article accordingly encourages discourse to reinstall and bring the idea of accountable state back in.

The paper investigates an application of long-memory processes to economic time series. We show properties of long-memory processes, which are motivated to model a long-memory phenomenon in economic time series. An FARIMA model is described as an example of long-memory model in statistical terms. The paper explains basic limit theorems and estimation methods for long-memory processes in order to apply long-memory models to economic time series.

Full Text Available Farmers need interaction mechanisms closer to customers interested in purchasing their products. The lack of communication between producer and potential buyers impacts on producers financial performance (that could have losses in sales volume, and buyers, which ultimately acquire lower-quality products. Thus, this paper aims to provide a technological solution proposal, the Buscagro: a software application that can be used on mobile devices and towards to enable a better interaction between family farmers and buyers, allowing a greater display of products from the farmer and disclosure of interests of potential buyers. The features of this technology are based on farmers goods data and information products demanded by potential buyers. In this way, the software application performs combinations based on supply and demand data, generating results for producers to have access in how to find buyers and for consumers to find products a greater agility.

Polyamine biosynthesis and function has been shown to be a good drug target in some parasitic protozoa and it is proposed that the pathway might also represent a target in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. A series of 1,3,5-triazine-substituted polyamine analogues were tested for activity against Plasmodium falciparum in vitro. The seriesshowed activity against the parasites and were generally more active against the chloroquine-resistant line K1 than the chloroquine-susceptible li...

In this document, the author examined the Aboriginal heritage that is serving the oil sand industry in Alberta. A construction and services company operating out of Fort McMurray's industrial district, was founded by Dave Tuccaro, who moved south from Fort Chipewyan. The work ethic of Aboriginals was described by Jim Bouchier, the chief of Fort McKay First Nation and the five-nation Athabasca Tribal Council. Economic relationships had been established with the Aboriginals in 1967 and 1978 by Suncor Energy Inc., and the Syncrude Canada consortium. This tradition was upheld by Shell Canada, Chevron Canada and Western Oil Sands, as well as Terasen Pipelines and the ATCO Group as part of the Athabasca Project. A series of capacity-development agreements have been signed, such as the latest in January 2003, which included in excess of 4 million dollars in assistance grants and creation of an industry relations corporation by each First Nation. Various First Nation-owned enterprises were briefly described. To conclude, the author provided a brief historical look at the industry over the past 40 years or so in Alberta.

What happened to the New Orleans public schools following the tragic levee breeches after Hurricane Katrina is truly unprecedented. Within the span of one year, all public-school employees were fired, the teacher contract expired and was not replaced, and most attendance zones were eliminated. The state took control of almost all public schools…

approaches to addressing sexual harassment , sexual assault, hazing, and other problematic behaviors in the armed forces. ...indicate that certain cohorts of veterans are excelling in the workplace . For example, post-9/11 veterans’ median earnings are 11 percent higher than those...and programs, the October workshop focused on studies and research needs regarding leveraging skills that veterans bring to the workplace , effective

Consumers using online auction websites face the challenge of appraising products at a distance. Sellers and buyers in online auctions navigate this challenge by displaying and evaluating various cues, a critical one being use of photographs. Warranting theory predicts that cues less subject to

Eggs have one of the lowest energy to nutrient density ratios of any food, and contain a quality of protein that is superior to beef steak and similar to dairy. From a nutritional perspective, this must qualify eggs as 'good'. The greater burden of proof has been to establish that eggs are not 'bad', by increasing awareness of the difference between dietary and blood cholesterol, and accumulating sufficient evidence to exonerate eggs from their associations with CVD and diabetes. After 60 years of research, a general consensus has now been reached that dietary cholesterol, chiefly from eggs, exerts a relatively small effect on serum LDL-cholesterol and CVD risk, in comparison with other diet and lifestyle factors. While dietary guidelines have been revised worldwide to reflect this view, associations between egg intake and the incidence of diabetes, and increased CVD risk in diabetes, prevail. These associations may be explained, in part, by residual confounding produced by other dietary components. The strength of evidence that links egg intake to increased CVD risk in diabetes is also complicated by variation in the response of serum LDL-cholesterol to eggs and dietary cholesterol in types 1 and 2 diabetes. On balance, the answer to the question as to whether eggs are 'bad', is probably 'no', but we do need to gain a better understanding of the effects of dietary cholesterol and its association with CVD risk in diabetes.

A large part of the characteristic sound of the electric guitar comes from nonlinearities in the signal path. Such nonlinearities may come from the input- or output-stage of the amplier, which is often equipped with vacuum tubes or a dedicated distortion pedal. In this paper the Volterra series...... expansion for non linear systems is investigated with respect to generating good distortion. The Volterra series allows for unlimited adjustment of the level and frequency dependency of each distortion component. Subjectively relevant ways of linking the dierent orders are discussed....

The emergence of police ordinances and police authorities in the early modern period has traditionally been seen as a way to discipline society in order to increase the power of the absolutist state. However, recent investigations of early modern policing in German and French regions show...... focused on local needs even after the creation of a royal police office in 1682. Policing mainly concerned the welfare and privileges of burghers in market towns until the introduction of a country police in 1791, when agrarian reforms began to erode the patriarchal order in the countryside. As a new way...

Statistical analysis is carried out for satellite-based global daily tropospheric and stratospheric temperature anomaly and solar irradiance data sets. Behavior of the series appears to be nonstationary with stationary daily increments. Estimating long-range dependence between the increments reveals a remarkable difference between the two temperature series. Global average tropospheric temperature anomaly behaves similarly to the solar irradiance anomaly. Their daily increments show antipersistency for scales longer than 2 months. The property points at a cumulative negative feedback in the Earth climate system governing the tropospheric variability during the last 22 years. The result emphasizes a dominating role of the solar irradiance variability in variations of the tropospheric temperature and gives no support to the theory of anthropogenic climate change. The global average stratospheric temperature anomaly proceeds like a 1-dim random walk at least up to 11 years, allowing good presentation by means of the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models for monthly series.

This chapter explores the philosopher and logician Georg Henrik von Wright’s metaethical treatise of the varieties of goodness in the context of design. von Wright investigated the use of notion of ‘good’ in language, and he identified six kinds of goodness: namely utilitarian goodness, instrumen......This chapter explores the philosopher and logician Georg Henrik von Wright’s metaethical treatise of the varieties of goodness in the context of design. von Wright investigated the use of notion of ‘good’ in language, and he identified six kinds of goodness: namely utilitarian goodness...

Inspired by human motor control theory, stiffness control is highly effective in manipulation and human-interactive tasks. The implementation of stiffness control in robotic systems, however, has largely been limited to closed-loop control, and suffers from multiple issues such as limited frequency range, potential instability, and lack of contribution to energy efficiency. Variable-stiffness actuator represents a better solution, but the current designs are complex, heavy, and bulky. The approach in this paper seeks to address these issues by using pneumatic actuator as a variable series elastic actuator (VSEA), leveraging the compressibility of the working fluid. In this work, a pneumatic actuator is modeled as an elastic element with controllable stiffness and equilibrium point, both of which are functions of air masses in the two chambers. As such, for the implementation of stiffness control in a robotic system, the desired stiffness/equilibrium point can be converted to the desired chamber air masses, and a predictive pressure control approach is developed to control the timing of valve switching to obtain the desired air mass while minimizing control action. Experimental results showed that the new approach in this paper requires less expensive hardware (on-off valve instead of proportional valve), causes less control action in implementation, and provides good control performance by leveraging the inherent dynamics of the actuator.

At present voluntary and philanthropic organisations are experiencing significant public attention and academic discussions about their role in society. Central to the debate is on one side the question of how they contribute to “the common good”, and on the other the question of how they can avoid...... and concepts continuously over time have blurred the different sectors and “polluted” contemporary definitions of the “common good”. The analysis shows that “the common good” is not an autonomous concept owned or developed by specific spheres of society. The analysis stresses that historically, “the common...... good” has always been a contested concept. It is established through messy and blurred heterogeneity of knowledge, purposes and goal achievements originating from a multitude of scientific, religious, political and civil society spheres contested not only in terms of words and definitions but also...

on their trust in the doctor or researcher. Is this type of decision-making morally wrong or less valuable? I discuss the value of trust in decision-making and consent in a medical context, and I argue that trust to at least the same degree as information can protect the autonomy of patients and research...... consent is a moral cornerstone in medical practice and research, as a means to protect the autonomy of patients and research subjects. However, numerous studies from across the globe show that patients and research subjects do not base their decisions on the information they receive, but rather......, as it does not take into account the various contextual, social and cultural factors that may make individuals vulnerable to exploitation. I thus argue that the dominant conception of exploitation in research ethics in developing countries has the potential to overlook many actual instances of exploitation...

It is important and necessary to get a much longer precipitation series in order to research features of drought/flood and climate change.Based on dryness and wetness grades series of 18 stations in Northern China of 533 years from 1470 to 2002, the Moving Cumulative Frequency Method (MCFM) was developed, moving average precipitation series from 1499 to 2002 were reconstructed by testing three kinds of average precipitation, and the features of climate change and dry and wet periods were researched by using reconstructed precipitation series in the present paper.The results showed that there were good relationship between the reconstructed precipitation series and the observation precipitation series since 1954 and their relative root-mean-square error were below 1.89%, that the relation between reconstructed series and the dryness and wetness grades series were nonlinear and this nonlinear relation implied that reconstructed series were reliable and could became foundation data for researching evolution of the drought and flood.Analysis of climate change upon reconstructed precipitation series revealed that although drought intensity of recent dry period from middle 1970s of 20th century until early 21st century was not the strongest in historical climate of Northern China, intensity and duration of wet period was a great deal decreasing and shortening respectively, climate evolve to aridification situation in Northern China.

Big projects fail at an astonishing rate--more than half the time, by some estimates. It's not hard to understand why. Complicated long-term projects are customarily developed by a series of teams working along parallel tracks. If managers fail to anticipate everything that might fall through the cracks, those tracks will not converge successfully at the end to reach the goal. Take a companywide CRM project. Traditionally, one team might analyze customers, another select the software, a third develop training programs, and so forth. When the project's finally complete, though, it may turn out that the salespeople won't enter in the requisite data because they don't understand why they need to. This very problem has, in fact, derailed many CRM programs at major organizations. There is a way to uncover unanticipated problems while the project is still in development. The key is to inject into the overall plan a series of miniprojects, or "rapid-results initiatives," which each have as their goal a miniature version of the overall goal. In the CRM project, a single team might be charged with increasing the revenues of one sales group in one region by 25% within four months. To reach that goal, team members would have to draw on the work of all the parallel teams. But in just four months, they would discover the salespeople's resistance and probably other unforeseen issues, such as, perhaps, the need to divvy up commissions for joint-selling efforts. The World Bank has used rapid-results initiatives to great effect to keep a sweeping 16-year project on track and deliver visible results years ahead of schedule. In taking an in-depth look at this project, and others, the authors show why this approach is so effective and how the initiatives are managed in conjunction with more traditional project activities.

Many believe that moral value is--at least to some extent--dependent on the developmental states necessary for supporting rational activity. My paper rejects this view, but does not aim simply to register objections to it. Rather, my essay aims to answer the following question: if a human being's developmental state and occurrent capacities do not bequeath moral standing, what does? The question is intended to prompt careful consideration of what makes human beings objects of moral value, dignity, or (to employ my preferred term) goodness. Not only do I think we can answer this question, I think we can show that nascent human life possesses goodness of precisely this sort. I appeal to Aquinas's metaethics to establish the conclusion that the goodness of a human being--even if that being is an embryo or fetus--resides at the substratum of her existence. If she possesses goodness, it is because human existence is good.

We revisit the Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Cramér–von Mises goodness-of-fit (GoF) tests and propose a generalization to identically distributed, but dependent univariate random variables. We show that the dependence leads to a reduction of the 'effective' number of independent observations. The generalized GoF tests are not distribution-free but rather depend on all the lagged bivariate copulas. These objects, that we call 'self-copulas', encode all the non-linear temporal dependences. We introduce a specific, log-normal model for these self-copulas, for which a number of analytical results are derived. An application to financial time series is provided. As is well known, the dependence is to be long-ranged in this case, a finding that we confirm using self-copulas. As a consequence, the acceptance rates for GoF tests are substantially higher than if the returns were iid random variables

Urban water infrastructure has very long planning horizons, and planning is thus very dependent on reliable estimates of the impacts of climate change. Many urban water systems are designed using time series with a high temporal resolution. To assess the impact of climate change on these systems......, similarly high-resolution precipitation time series for future climate are necessary. Climate models cannot at their current resolutions provide these time series at the relevant scales. Known methods for stochastic downscaling of climate change to urban hydrological scales have known shortcomings...... in constructing realistic climate-changed precipitation time series at the sub-hourly scale. In the present study we present a deterministic methodology to perturb historical precipitation time series at the minute scale to reflect non-linear expectations to climate change. The methodology showsgood skill...

The PVCROPS project (PhotoVolta ic Cost r€duction, Reliability, Operational performance, Prediction and Simulation), cofinanced by European Commission in the frame of Seventh Framework Programme, has compiled in the “Good and bad practices: Manual to improve the quality and reduce the cost of PV systems” a collection of good and bad practices in actual PV plants . All the situations it collects represent the state-of-the-art of existing PV installations all around Europe. They show how ...

Models for Dependent Time Series addresses the issues that arise and the methodology that can be applied when the dependence between time series is described and modeled. Whether you work in the economic, physical, or life sciences, the book shows you how to draw meaningful, applicable, and statistically valid conclusions from multivariate (or vector) time series data.The first four chapters discuss the two main pillars of the subject that have been developed over the last 60 years: vector autoregressive modeling and multivariate spectral analysis. These chapters provide the foundational mater

IN 1992 Huang Wentao, 22, set a world record in the disabled long jump. Before he set this record, his parents had never thought of letting him do sports. He is the second son of Liu Linzhi. When Liu got pregnant again, she felt happy and at ease. She wanted to have a beautiful girl because she thought she would then be satisfied, having one son and one daughter. Of course it would also be all right if she had a second son like her first child. The two brothers could take care of each other and be friends. The child, a good-looking boy, came into the world safely. Like most babies, newborn Huang sometimes cried, sometimes opened his big eyes and

The Scientific Library’s annual Summer Video Series was so successful that it will be offering a new Winter Video Series beginning in January. For this inaugural event, the staff is showing the eight-part series from National Geographic titled “American Genius.”

This article addresses the challenges that arise when record keeping systems are advocated as a necessary under-pinning for good government and good governance. The relationship between record keeping and accountability is analysed and contextualised in relation to transparency and Freedom of Information ...

This article is the first in a series of four examining the components of good corporate governance. Poor governance can result in patients receiving poor quality care; all healthcare professionals, therefore, have a role in ensuring effective governance. This article discusses how an organisation's culture and leadership can contribute to good corporate governance. Nurse leaders can influence the culture of effective governance by building trust and respect and challenging the behaviours that led to poor quality care. The next article in this series will look at how an organisation's systems and processes can affect the effectiveness of its governance.

The benefits of good predictive models in astronomy lie in early event prediction systems and effective resource allocation. Current time series methods applicable to regular time series have not evolved to generalize for irregular time series. In this talk, I will describe two Recurrent Neural Network methods, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Echo State Networks (ESNs) for predicting irregular time series. Feature engineering along with a non-linear modeling proved to be an effective predictor. For noisy time series, the prediction is improved by training the network on error realizations using the error estimates from astronomical light curves. In addition to this, we propose a new neural network architecture to remove correlation from the residuals in order to improve prediction and compensate for the noisy data. Finally, I show how to set hyperparameters for a stable and performant solution correctly. In this work, we circumvent this obstacle by optimizing ESN hyperparameters using Bayesian optimization with Gaussian Process priors. This automates the tuning procedure, enabling users to employ the power of RNN without needing an in-depth understanding of the tuning procedure.

We review the use of behavior from television game shows to infer risk attitudes. These shows provide evidence when contestants are making decisions over very large stakes, and in a replicated, structured way. Inferences are generally confounded by the subjective assessment of skill in some games......, and the dynamic nature of the task in most games. We consider the game shows Card Sharks, Jeopardy!, Lingo, and finally Deal Or No Deal. We provide a detailed case study of the analyses of Deal Or No Deal, since it is suitable for inference about risk attitudes and has attracted considerable attention....

Trade shows is an increasingly important marketing activity to many companies, but current measures of trade show performance do not adequately capture dimensions important to exhibitors. Based on the marketing literature's outcome and behavior-based control system taxonomy, a model is built...... that captures a outcome-based sales dimension and four behavior-based dimensions (i.e. information-gathering, relationship building, image building, and motivation activities). A 16-item instrument is developed for assessing exhibitors perceptions of their trade show performance. The paper presents evidence...

Earlier studies have found that framing has substantial impact on the degree of cooperation observed in public good experiments. We show that the way the public good game is framed affects misperceptions about the incentives of the game. Moreover, we show that such framing-induced differences...... in misperceptions are linked to the framing effect on subjects' cooperation behavior. When we do not control for the different levels of misperceptions between frames, we observe a significant framing effect on subjects’ cooperation preferences. However, this framing effect becomes insignificant once we remove...

Time will render radioactive waste harmless. How can we manage the time radioactive substances remain harmful? Just 'wait and see' or 'marking time' is not an option. We need to isolate the waste from our living environment and control it as long as necessary. For the situation in the Netherlands, it is obvious that a period of long term storage is needed. Both the small volume of waste and the limited financial possibilities are determining factors. Time is needed to let the volume of waste grow and to let the money, needed for disposal, grow in a capital growth fund. An organisation such as COVRA - the radioactive waste organisation in the Netherlands - can only function when it has good, open and transparent relationship with the public and particularly with the local population. If we tell people that we safely store radioactive waste for 100 years, they often ask: 'That long?' How can we explain the long-term aspect of radioactive waste management in a way people can relate to? In this paper, an overview is given of the activities of COVRA on the communication of radioactive waste management. (authors)

Compares and contrasts views of what constitutes good teaching in four recent books: "My Harvard, My Yale: Memoirs of College Life by Some Notable Americans" (Dubois, 1982); "Twenty Teachers" (Macrorie, 1984); "Artistry in Teaching" (Rubin, 1985); and "The Essence of Good Teaching: Helping Students Learn and Remember What They Learn" (Eriksen,…

This text is a guide to the reading and interpretation of the "good practices" that are developing in the countries participating in this project and elsewhere. A systematic approach to the factors making up a "good practice" has enabled us to share our analyses in a more structured manner and to reflect on their potential for…

The greater power of bad events over good ones is found in everyday events, major life events (e.g., trauma), close relationship outcomes, social network patterns, interpersonal interactions, and learning processes. Bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad

The nuclear industry has demonstrated good performance in many areas relating to the design, engineering, construction and operation of nuclear facilities. This report of an international symposium held in Tokyo highlights examples of good performance in nuclear projects which can aid the industry in seeking even better performance, thus strengthening the contribution nuclear energy can make to sustainable economic growth

Full Text Available This paper argues against the prescriptive notions of Peace Journalism, and in particular its exclusive nature and attempt to define itself as a new orthodoxy. Most of the paper is a critique of the work of Jake Lynch and Annabel McGoldrick, in a book published in 2005, as well as their earlier Reporting the World series. They condemn all other ways of reporting as 'War Journalism, biased in favour of war.' I argue instead that the opposite of Peace Journalism is good journalism. Much of this Peace Journalism argument is derived from the work of Johan Galtung, who accuses 'war journalists' of reporting war in an enclosed space and time, with no context, concealing peace initiatives and making wars 'opaque/secret.' Galtung specifically calls on journalists as part of their mission to search out peace proposals which might begin as something small and beneath notice, but which might then be picked up and owned by politicians as their own. My response is clear and simple: creating peacemaking politicians is not the business of a reporter. I examine the traditional journalistic methods of using objectivity to get at a version of the truth. I concede that perfect truth is unattainable, (and paradoxically the tool of objectivity we use to get there is slippery too. I conclude that a more quotidian truth, or 'truthfulness' is though a manageable goal. I engage with philosophers who examine objectivity, concluding with the assistance of Thomas Nagel that it does still have a value. Nagel's account also has the merit of explaining how practices such as peace-reporting are bound to be less objective than alternatives, 'since they commit themselves to the adoption of particular perspectives, in effect giving up on the ideal of stripping away as much…as possible.' I examine the responses of the so-called 'journalism of attachment' framed as a desire of journalists faced by the horrors of Bosnia to cast off impartiality and emotional detachment and take

The text which follows present the different techniques exposed during the 37. Tokyo Motor Show. The report points out the great tendencies of developments of the Japanese automobile industry. The hybrid electric-powered vehicles or those equipped with fuel cells have been highlighted by the Japanese manufacturers which allow considerable budgets in the research of less polluting vehicles. The exposed models, although being all different according to the manufacturer, use always a hybrid system: fuel cell/battery. The manufacturers have stressed too on the intelligent systems for navigation and safety as well as on the design and comfort. (O.M.)

Do you remember the answer to the question posed in the previous issue of the Bulletin? "Your password should be treated like a toothbrush: do not share it and change it regularly!" After our last article, we received a series of questions on how to choose a good password and remember it easily… Thus, here we go. A good password is: • private: used and known by one person only; • secret: it does not appear in clear text in any file or program or on a piece of paper pinned to the monitor; • easily remembered: so there is no need to write it down; • at least 8 characters long with a mixture of at least 3 of the following: upper case letters, lower case letters, digits and symbols; • not to be found in a dictionary of any major language nor guessable by any program in a reasonable time. Here are some hints to help you choose good passwords: • Choose a line o...

The infection rate of syphilis in China has increased dramatically in recent decades, becoming a serious public health concern. Early prediction of syphilis is therefore of great importance for heath planning and management. In this paper, we analyzed surveillance time series data for primary, secondary, tertiary, congenital and latent syphilis in mainland China from 2005 to 2012. Seasonality and long-term trend were explored with decomposition methods. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) was used to fit a univariate time series model of syphilis incidence. A separate multi-variable time series for each syphilis type was also tested using an autoregressive integrated moving average model with exogenous variables (ARIMAX). The syphilis incidence rates have increased three-fold from 2005 to 2012. All syphilis time seriesshowed strong seasonality and increasing long-term trend. Both ARIMA and ARIMAX models fitted and estimated syphilis incidence well. All univariate time seriesshowed highest goodness-of-fit results with the ARIMA(0,0,1)×(0,1,1) model. Time series analysis was an effective tool for modelling the historical and future incidence of syphilis in China. The ARIMAX model showed superior performance than the ARIMA model for the modelling of syphilis incidence. Time series correlations existed between the models for primary, secondary, tertiary, congenital and latent syphilis.

Background The infection rate of syphilis in China has increased dramatically in recent decades, becoming a serious public health concern. Early prediction of syphilis is therefore of great importance for heath planning and management. Methods In this paper, we analyzed surveillance time series data for primary, secondary, tertiary, congenital and latent syphilis in mainland China from 2005 to 2012. Seasonality and long-term trend were explored with decomposition methods. Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) was used to fit a univariate time series model of syphilis incidence. A separate multi-variable time series for each syphilis type was also tested using an autoregressive integrated moving average model with exogenous variables (ARIMAX). Results The syphilis incidence rates have increased three-fold from 2005 to 2012. All syphilis time seriesshowed strong seasonality and increasing long-term trend. Both ARIMA and ARIMAX models fitted and estimated syphilis incidence well. All univariate time seriesshowed highest goodness-of-fit results with the ARIMA(0,0,1)×(0,1,1) model. Conclusion Time series analysis was an effective tool for modelling the historical and future incidence of syphilis in China. The ARIMAX model showed superior performance than the ARIMA model for the modelling of syphilis incidence. Time series correlations existed between the models for primary, secondary, tertiary, congenital and latent syphilis. PMID:26901682

In this paper, we will give an overview of known and new techniques on how one can obtain explicit equations for candidates of good towers of function fields. The techniques are founded in modular theory (both the classical modular theory and the Drinfeld modular theory). In the classical modular...... setup, optimal towers can be obtained, while in the Drinfeld modular setup, good towers over any non-prime field may be found. We illustrate the theory with several examples, thus explaining some known towers as well as giving new examples of good explicitly defined towers of function fields....

Infinite series is a challenging topic in the undergraduate mathematics curriculum for many students. In fact, there is a vast literature in mathematics education research on convergence issues. One of the most important types of infinite series is the geometric series. Their beauty lies in the fact that they can be evaluated explicitly and that…

The general features and characteristics of Kapteyn series, which are a special type of series involving the Bessel function, are investigated. For many applications in physics, astrophysics and mathematics, it is crucial to have closed-form expressions in order to determine their functional structure and parametric behavior. The closed-form expressions of Kapteyn series have mostly been limited to special cases, even though there are often similarities in the approaches used to reduce the series to analytically tractable forms. The goal of this paper is to review the previous work in the area and to show that Kapteyn series can be expressed as trigonometric or gamma function series, which can be evaluated in a closed form for specific parameters. Two examples with a similar structure are given, showing the complexity of Kapteyn series. (paper)

In this article, the author first introduces and describes a new teaching tool called WebQuests to practicing teachers. He then provides detailed information about the structure of a good WebQuest. Third, the author shows the strengths and weaknesses of using Web-Quests in teaching and learning. Last, he points out the challenges for practicing…

... especially important for children since a variety of food is needed for proper development. Other elements of good health include exercise, rest and avoidance of stimulants such as sugar and caffeine.

This paper examines the effect of counterfeit goods in a world where consumers are differentiated by level of income and innovation is quality enhancing. Counterfeit goods are defined as products with the same characteristics as “originals”, but of lower quality. The effect of imitation on firms’ profits and consumer welfare depends on the distribution of income within the country. In particular, the greater the level of income inequality the larger the increase in consumer welfare due to the...

In real situations, the value of public goods will be reduced or even lost because of external factors or for intrinsic reasons. In this work, we investigate the evolution of cooperation by considering the effect of depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games on a square lattice. It is assumed that each individual gains full advantage if the number of the cooperators nc within a group centered on that individual equals or exceeds the critical mass (CM). Otherwise, there is depreciation of the public goods, which is realized by rescaling the multiplication factor r to (nc/CM)r. It is shown that the emergence of cooperation is remarkably promoted for CM > 1 even at small values of r, and a global cooperative level is achieved at an intermediate value of CM = 4 at a small r. We further study the effect of depreciation of public goods on different topologies of a regular lattice, and find that the system always reaches global cooperation at a moderate value of CM = G - 1 regardless of whether or not there exist overlapping triangle structures on the regular lattice, where G is the group size of the associated regular lattice.

In real situations, the value of public goods will be reduced or even lost because of external factors or for intrinsic reasons. In this work, we investigate the evolution of cooperation by considering the effect of depreciation of public goods in spatial public goods games on a square lattice. It is assumed that each individual gains full advantage if the number of the cooperators n c within a group centered on that individual equals or exceeds the critical mass (CM). Otherwise, there is depreciation of the public goods, which is realized by rescaling the multiplication factor r to (n c /CM)r. It is shown that the emergence of cooperation is remarkably promoted for CM > 1 even at small values of r, and a global cooperative level is achieved at an intermediate value of CM = 4 at a small r. We further study the effect of depreciation of public goods on different topologies of a regular lattice, and find that the system always reaches global cooperation at a moderate value of CM = G − 1 regardless of whether or not there exist overlapping triangle structures on the regular lattice, where G is the group size of the associated regular lattice

Every trainer and training director should take a close look at his or her habits--good and bad ones. The author provides a series of questions that, when answered by trainers will help them change or get rid of a habit or develop a new one. (BP)

In discussing radiation from multiple point charges or magnetic dipoles, moving in circles or ellipses, a variety of Kapteyn series of the second kind arises. Some of the series have been known in closed form for a hundred years or more, others appear not to be available to analytic persuasion. This paper shows how 12 such generic series can be developed to produce either closed analytic expressions or integrals that are not analytically tractable. In addition, the method presented here may be of benefit when one has other Kapteyn series of the second kind to consider, thereby providing an additional reason to consider such series anew

Abstract. We have in [1] proposed a definition of cusp forms on semisimple symmetric spaces G/H, involving the notion of a Radon transform and a related Abel transform. For the real non-Riemannian hyperbolic spaces, we showed that there exists an infinite number of cuspidal discrete series......, and at most finitely many non-cuspidal discrete series, including in particular the spherical discrete series. For the projective spaces, the spherical discrete series are the only non-cuspidal discrete series. Below, we extend these results to the other hyperbolic spaces, and we also study the question...

In this paper, the author presents a new method for finding identities for hypergeoemtric series, such as the (Gauss) hypergeometric series, the generalized hypergeometric series and the Appell-Lauricella hypergeometric series. Furthermore, using this method, the author gets identities for the hypergeometric series F(a,b;c;x) and shows that values of F(a,b;c;x) at some points x can be expressed in terms of gamma functions, together with certain elementary functions. The author tabulates the values of F(a,b;c;x) that can be obtained with this method and finds that this set includes almost all previously known values and many previously unknown values.

We provide the proof that the space of time series data is a Kolmogorov space with $T_{0}$-separation axiom using the loop space of time series data. In our approach we define a cyclic coordinate of intrinsic time scale of time series data after empirical mode decomposition. A spinor field of time series data comes from the rotation of data around price and time axis by defining a new extradimension to time series data. We show that there exist hidden eight dimensions in Kolmogorov space for ...

For some time the outputs, i.e. what's produced, of publicly and privately funded research while necessary, are far from sufficient, when considering an overall return on (research) investment. At the present time products such as peer-reviewed papers, websites, data, and software are recognized by funders on timescales related to research awards and reporting. However, from a consumer perspective impact and value are determined at the time a product is discovered, accessed, assessed and used. As is often the case, the perspectives of producer and consumer communities can be distinct and not intersect at all. We contrast personal good, i.e. credit, reputation, with that of public good, e.g. interest, leverage, exploitation, and more. This presentation will elaborate on both the metaphorical and idealogical aspects of applying a "return on investment" frame for the topic of assessing "good".

People make use of software applications in their activities, applying them as tools in carrying out tasks. That this use should be good for people--easy, effective, efficient, and enjoyable--is a principal goal of design. In this book, we present the notion of Conceptual Models, and argue that Conceptual Models are core to achieving good design. From years of helping companies create software applications, we have come to believe that building applications without Conceptual Models is just asking for designs that will be confusing and difficult to learn, remember, and use. We show how Concept

Veracity, one of the five V's used to describe big data, has received attention when it comes to using electronic medical record data for research purposes. In this perspective article, we discuss the idea of data veracity and associated concepts as it relates to the use of electronic medical record data and administrative data in research. We discuss the idea that electronic medical record data are "good enough" for clinical practice and, as such, are "good enough" for certain applications. We then propose three primary issues to attend to when establishing data veracity: data provenance, cross validation, and context.

The study of record statistics of correlated series in physics, such as random walks, is gaining momentum, and several analytical results have been obtained in the past few years. In this work, we study the record statistics of correlated empirical data for which random walk models have relevance. We obtain results for the records statistics of select stock market data and the geometric random walk, primarily through simulations. We show that the distribution of the age of records is a power law with the exponent α lying in the range 1.5≤α≤1.8. Further, the longest record ages follow the Fréchet distribution of extreme value theory. The records statistics of geometric random walk series is in good agreement with that obtained from empirical stock data.

of the time series under consideration is available. Therefore, a black-box optimization approach is our method of choice for detecting structural breaks. We describe a genetic algorithm framework which easily adapts to a large number of statistical settings. To evaluate the usefulness of different crossover...... and mutation operations for this problem, we conduct extensive experiments to determine good choices for the parameters and operators of the genetic algorithm. One surprising observation is that use of uniform and one-point crossover together gave significantly better results than using either crossover...... operator alone. Moreover, we present a specific fitness function which exploits the sparse structure of the break points and which can be evaluated particularly efficiently. The experiments on artificial and real-world time seriesshow that the resulting algorithm detects break points with high precision...

We propose a notion of cusp forms on semisimple symmetric spaces. We then study the real hyperbolic spaces in detail, and show that there exists both cuspidal and non-cuspidal discrete series. In particular, we show that all the spherical discrete series are non-cuspidal. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All...

Full Text Available Generally, the purpose of this research are: 1 to get more knowledge about Advertising, product attributes and the decision to purchase smartphone Samsung Galaxy series,. 2 to get more knowledge about the influence of Advertising to purchasing decisions smartphone Samsung Galaxy series, 3 to get more knowledge about the influence of product attributes to purchasing decisions smartphone Samsung Galaxy series, 4 to get more knowledge about influence of Advertising and product attributes simultaneously the decision to purchase smartphone Samsung Galaxy series. The observation unit in this research is 100 respondents visitors ITC Roxy Mas – Jakarta to purchase smartphone Samsung Galaxy series. Technique of determining the sample using a convenience sampling technique. Data collection techniques using the questionnaire Liker scale from 1 to 5. Descriptive analysis results showed: 1 the Advertising from Samsung Galaxy series is good enough as a whole but still lacking in message Acceptance and message retention. 2 Attribute a good product overall dimesi dominated by product futures, 3 the decision to purchase is dominated by post-purchase where consumers get satisfaction after buying the Samsung Galaxy series. Hypothesis testing results showed: 1 Advertising have a significant effect on purchasing decisions, 2 product attributes have a significant effect on purchasing decisions, 3 Advertising and product attributes a significant effect on purchasing decisions.

Full Text Available This paper consists of three factors, namely: Good Governance, Business Climate and Corruption. How they affect the development product of Albania, not only as a concept, and a principle but mostly as a sensitive aspect in the integration process. There are some interpretations of this concept, but I intend to analyze the key factors and actors, their cooperation and concrete production in society. Improving governance is necessary to have an integrated long term strategy based upon a continuous cooperation between institutions and citizens. But in developing countries like Albania there are some important questions such as: How can we measure the improvement of Good Governance through policies? Has Good Governance indicated an effective way for the sustainable development? (Meisel, 2008, 6. These question give us the orientation to reflect about the process of development, social economic political behavior and how this multidimensional is transformed in product of good governance. The business cycle is strongly connected with many aspects of political-, social-, juridical aspects and good governance. Despite attempts to draft law regulations, the level of corruption and informality in Albania continues to be a major obstacle. The credibility level in the implementation of law is an indicator that affects democratization and institutional integration. At present, different reports of international institutions, define Albania as the country with the highest level of Corruption in the Balkans, which is a key factor influencing business. The ways with

"Good schools think 'with' people and not 'to' people" argues David Hudson in this thought provoking practical guide for those wanting to bridge the gap between middle and senior management roles, and make a difference in their schools. Accessibly and engagingly written and packed with real-life examples, this book will prove essential…

The proper object of global health governance (GHG) should be the common good, ensuring that all people have the opportunity to flourish. A well-organized global society that promotes the common good is to everyone's advantage. Enabling people to flourish includes enabling their ability to be healthy. Thus, we must assess health governance by its effectiveness in enhancing health capabilities. Current GHG fails to support human flourishing, diminishes health capabilities and thus does not serve the common good. The provincial globalism theory of health governance proposes a Global Health Constitution and an accompanying Global Institute of Health and Medicine that together propose to transform health governance. Multiple lines of empirical research suggest that these institutions would be effective, offering the most promising path to a healthier, more just world.

Full Text Available The author, a psychologist from Prague, discusses the theory of consumption from the socio-political angle. He discusses in detail the double features of goods from the psychological point of view: a the material features and b nominal, notional features of goods. The latter (nominal feature has been especially emphasized, the one that is being transformed into a specific "image of goods". The author also analyses its influence upon the consumers' behavior, connecting it with advertising as well. Later on in the paper the author shifts his analysis to the process of creating new products and to the establishment of the new conception that would not deal any more with individual products but rather with a "field of requirements". The author emphasizes the importance of research. He considers that changes in the way of living considerably influence the formation of requirements which in its turn asks for specific marketing methods in satisfying the requirements.

There currently exist two competing approaches in the literature on the optimal provision of public goods. The standard approach highlights the importance of distortionary taxation and distributional concerns. The new approach neutralizes distributional concerns by adjusting the non-linear income...... tax, and finds that this reinvigorates the simple Samuelson rule when preferences are separable in goods and leisure. We provide a synthesis by demonstrating that both approaches derive from the same basic formula. We further develop the new approach by deriving a general, intuitive formula...

A modified multivariate adaptive regression splines method for modeling vector nonlinear time series is investigated. The method results in models that can capture certain types of vector self-exciting threshold autoregressive behavior, as well as provide good predictions for more general vector

A series transmission line transformer is set forth which includes two or more of impedance matched sets of at least two transmissions lines such as shielded cables, connected in parallel at one end ans series at the other in a cascading fashion. The cables are wound about a magnetic core. The series transmission line transformer (STLT) which can provide for higher impedance ratios and bandwidths, which is scalable, and which is of simpler design and construction.

We discuss the use of recursive enumeration schemes to obtain low- and high-temperature series expansions for discrete statistical systems. Using linear combinations of generalized helical lattices, the method is competitive with diagrammatic approaches and is easily generalizable. We illustrate the approach using Ising and Potts models. We present low-temperature series results in up to five dimensions and high-temperature series in three dimensions. The method is general and can be applied to any discrete model

Like good government, thoughtful care of children requires those in power, whether teachers or parents, to recognize when it is appropriate for them to step back from day-to-day decision-making while still working behind the scenes to ensure an organizational structure that supports the independence and equitable development of those they serve.…

The conception of the good life in theoretical texts and adult learners' written narratives depicts well-being in terms of aesthetic experiences, values, existential experiences, autonomy, and significant others. Future prospects for adult education as legislative practice, as therapy and as commitment are derived from the discussion. (SK)

A majority of American schools are meeting the challenge of educating children. A New York State district gets out the good news by producing school newsletters and videos, by constant and close contact with the local news media, and by forming ties with local real estate agents. (MLF)

Members of the personnel are invited to take note that only parcels corresponding to official orders or contracts will be handled at CERN. Individuals are not authorised to have private merchandise delivered to them at CERN and private deliveries will not be accepted by the Goods Reception services. Thank you for your understanding.

If the role of the judge as a creator of rules is fully recognised, there is no need for a general good faith clause in a code or restatement of European private law. It may even do harm because it gives the courts an excuse for not formulating the rule which they apply. If, however, there is still

How are independent schools to be useful to the wider world? Beyond their common commitment to educate their students for meaningful lives in service of the greater good, can they educate a broader constituency and, thus, share their resources and skills more broadly? Their answers to this question will be shaped by their independence. Any…

In this paper, we analyse implications of corruption on growth. We extend existing growth models by incorporating ubiquitous corruption as a by-product of the public sector. Corruption affects both taxation and public good provision, and therefore causes income redistribution and inefficiencies in the public sector. These effects of corruption lead to lower growth through distortions of investment incentives and resources allocation.

Many human-related activities show power-law decaying interevent time distribution with exponents usually varying between 1 and 2. We study a simple task-queuing model, which produces bursty time series due to the non-trivial dynamics of the task list. The model is characterized by a priority distribution as an input parameter, which describes the choice procedure from the list. We give exact results on the asymptotic behaviour of the model and we show that the interevent time distribution is power-law decaying for any kind of input distributions that remain normalizable in the infinite list limit, with exponents tunable between 1 and 2. The model satisfies a scaling law between the exponents of interevent time distribution (β) and autocorrelation function (α): α + β = 2. This law is general for renewal processes with power-law decaying interevent time distribution. We conclude that slowly decaying autocorrelation function indicates long-range dependence only if the scaling law is violated. (paper)

Nanotechnology and engineered nanomaterials are currently used in wide variety of cosmetic products, while their use in food industry, packaging materials, household chemicals etc. still includes a limited number of items and does not show a significant upward trend. However, the problem of priority nanomaterials associated risks is relevant due to their high production volumes and an constantly growing burden on the environment and population. In accordance with the frequency of use in mass-produced consumer goods, leading priority nanomaterials are silver nanoparticles (NPs) and (by a wide margin) NPs of gold, platinum, and titanium dioxide. Frequency of nanosized silica introduction into food products as a food additive, at the moment, seems to be underestimated, since the use of this nanomaterial is not declared by manufacturers of products and objective control of its content is difficult. Analysis of literature data on toxicological properties of nanomaterials shows that currently accumulated amount of information is sufficient to establish the safe doses of nanosized silver, gold and titanium dioxide. Data have been provided in a series of studies concerning the effect of oral intake of nanosized silica on the condition of laboratory animals, including on the performance of the immune system. The article examines the existing approaches to the assessment of population exposure to priority nanomaterials, characteristics of existing problems and risk management.

This note discusses the introduction of Fourier series as an immediate application of optimization of a function of more than one variable. Specifically, it is shown how the study of Fourier series can be motivated to enrich a multivariable calculus class. This is done through discovery learning and use of technology wherein students build the…

Mathematical proofs often leave students unconvinced or without understanding of what has been proved, because they provide no visual-geometric representation. Presented are geometric models for the finite geometric series when r is a whole number, and the infinite geometric series when r is the reciprocal of a whole number. (MNS)

... standard barium upper GI series, which uses only barium a double-contrast upper GI series, which uses both air and ... evenly coat your upper GI tract with the barium. If you are having a double-contrast study, you will swallow gas-forming crystals that ...

Full Text Available Abstract Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA is a class of 28 positional and geometric isomers of linoleic acid octadecadienoic.Currently, it has been described many benefits related to the supplementation of CLA in animals and humans, as in the treatment of cancer, oxidative stress, in atherosclerosis, in bone formation and composition in obesity, in diabetes and the immune system. However, our results show that, CLA appears to be not a good supplement in patients with cachexia.

We show that there is a unique correlated equilibrium, identical to the unique Nash equilibrium, in the classic Bertrand oligopoly model with homogenous goods and identical marginal costs. This provides a theoretical underpinning for the so-called "Bertrand paradox'' as well as its most general f...... formulation to date. Our proof generalizes to asymmetric marginal costs and arbitrarily many players in the following way: The market price cannot be higher than the second lowest marginal cost in any correlated equilibrium....

Series-series and series-parallel topologies are the most favored topologies for design of wireless power transfer system for vehicle applications. The series-series topology has the advantage of reflecting only the resistive part on the primary side. On the other hand, the current source output...... characteristics of the series-parallel topology are more suited for the battery of the vehicle. This paper compares the two topologies in terms of magnetic emissions to the surroundings for the same input power, primary current, quality factor and inductors. Theoretical and simulation results show that the series...

Full Text Available Considering the EU adhesion, good governance has been analyzed from different perspectives, in the judicial literature being an analytic model or a normative concept. Some authors have wondered if this concept is a fashion, comprising some older ideas and principles, while other authors have asserted that the reasons why different methods of governance appear in the EU are based on “the complexity and the uncertainty of the problems on the agenda, an irreducible, the new approaches on public administration and law, hidden competencies, legitimacy and subsidiarity”. At a normative level, the White Paper of European Governance consecrated five principles on which good governance is based upon: openness, participation, responsibility, efficiency and coherence.

and actions towards workers, and findings of independent researchers. Currently, differing perspectives on product "goodness" are being addressed and mediated by NGOs and B-corporations, as they work with private companies and corporations to communicate product information to consumers. One organization...... focused on scenarios where shoppers were asked about CSR in their product decisions found that: "...when consumers are given information that they trust about a company's level of social responsibility, it affects how they evaluate the company and their purchase intentions. Furthermore, a low price did....... Asymmetries in knowledge about product "goodness" make it difficult for ethically inspired consumers to make informed decisions about the products they purchase. These knowledge asymmetries emerge from differing perspectives on guidelines for consumer safety set by government bodies, CSR initiatives...

This article investigates valuations of organ transfers that are currently seen as legitimising increasingly aggressive procurement methods in Denmark. Based on interviews with registered donors and the intensive care unit staff responsible for managing organ donor patients we identify three types...... a more general salience in the organ transplant field by way of facilitating a perception of organ transplantation as an abstract moral good rather than a specific good for specific people. Furthermore, we suggest that multiple forms of ignorance sustain each other: a desire for ignorance with respect...... to the prioritisation of recipients sustains pressure for more organs; this pressure necessitates more aggressive measures in organ procurement and these measures increase the need for ignorance in relation to the actual procedures as well as the actual recipients. These attempts to avoid knowledge are in remarkable...

The SERI Wind Energy Program manages the areas or innovative research, wind systems analysis, and environmental compatibility for the U.S. Department of Energy. Since 1978, SERI wind program staff have conducted in-house aerodynamic and engineering analyses of novel concepts for wind energy conversion and have managed over 20 subcontracts to determine technical feasibility; the most promising of these concepts is the passive blade cyclic pitch control project. In the area of systems analysis, the SERI program has analyzed the impact of intermittent generation on the reliability of electric utility systems using standard utility planning models. SERI has also conducted methodology assessments. Environmental issues related to television interference and acoustic noise from large wind turbines have been addressed. SERI has identified the causes, effects, and potential control of acoustic noise emissions from large wind turbines.

A subset S of is said to be full, if S is a maximal good set in 1S × 2S ืทททื nS. ([3], p. 183). Two points .... assume there is a p for which |np|= |mp|. Then. ∑k j=1 nj xj = 0 ..... M G Nadkarni for suggesting the problems and for encouragement and ...

Full Text Available Good governance is identified as imperative for enhancing the performance of Municipal councils in India. This is against the backdrop of mounting service delivery challenges confronting these Municipalities especially in the Haryana province. Using a case-study design, the study assesses performance in the context of basic elements of participative governance, transparency and accountability. The article contributes to growing literature on public sector issues in the discipline.

This paper consists of three factors, namely: Good Governance, Business Climate and Corruption. How they affect the development product of Albania, not only as a concept, and a principle but mostly as a sensitive aspect in the integration process. There are some interpretations of this concept, but I intend to analyze the key factors and actors, their cooperation and concrete production in society. Improving governance is necessary to have an integrated long term strategy based upon a continu...

In this paper I estimate income and price elasticities of donations to six different charitable causes to test the assumption that charity is a homogeneous good. In the US, charitable donations can be deducted from taxable income. This has long been recognized as producing a price, or taxprice, of giving equal to one minus the marginal tax rate faced by the donor. A substantial portion of the economic literature on giving has focused on estimating price and income elasticities of giving as th...

Virtual worlds (VWs) are computer-simulated environments which allow users to create their own virtual character as an avatar. With the rapidly growing user volume in VWs, platform providers launch virtual goods in haste and stampede users to increase sales revenue. However, the rapidity of development incurs virtual unrelated items which will be difficult to remarket. It not only wastes virtual global companies' intelligence resources, but also makes it difficult for users to find suitable virtual goods fit for their virtual home in daily virtual life. In the VWs, users decorate their houses, visit others' homes, create families, host parties, and so forth. Users establish their social life circles through these activities. This research proposes a novel virtual goods recommendation method based on these social interactions. The contact strength and contact influence result from interactions with social neighbors and influence users' buying intention. Our research highlights the importance of social interactions in virtual goods recommendation. The experiment's data were retrieved from an online VW platform, and the results show that the proposed method, considering social interactions and social life circle, has better performance than existing recommendation methods.

Productive societies feature high levels of cooperation and strong connections between individuals. Public Goods Games (PGGs) are frequently used to study the development of social connections and cooperative behavior in model societies. In such games, contributions to the public good are made only by cooperators, while all players, including defectors, reap public goods benefits, which are shares of the contributions amplified by a synergy factor. Classic results of game theory show that mutual defection, as opposed to cooperation, is the Nash Equilibrium of PGGs in well-mixed populations, where each player interacts with all others. In this paper, we explore the coevolutionary dynamics of a low information public goods game on a complex network in which players adapt to their environment in order to increase individual payoffs relative to past payoffs parameterized by greediness. Players adapt by changing their strategies, either to cooperate or to defect, and by altering their social connections. We find that even if players do not know other players' strategies and connectivity, cooperation can arise and persist despite large short-term fluctuations.

In this note, using the method of undetermined coefficients, we obtain the power series for exp ( f ( x )) and ln ( f ( x )) by means of a simple recursion. As applications, we show how those power series can be used to reproduce and improve some well-known results in analysis. These results may be used as enrichment material in an advanced…

This book develops the analysis of Time Series from its formal beginnings in the 1890s through to the publication of Box and Jenkins' watershed publication in 1970, showing how these methods laid the foundations for the modern techniques of Time Series analysis that are in use today.

Various perturbation series are factorially divergent. The behavior of their high-order terms can be determined by Lipatov's method, which involves the use of instanton configurations of appropriate functional integrals. When the Lipatov asymptotic form is known and several lowest order terms of the perturbation series are found by direct calculation of diagrams, one can gain insight into the behavior of the remaining terms of the series, which can be resummed to solve various strong-coupling problems in a certain approximation. This approach is demonstrated by determining the Gell-Mann-Low functions in φ 4 theory, QED, and QCD with arbitrary coupling constants. An overview of the mathematical theory of divergent series is presented, and interpretation of perturbation series is discussed. Explicit derivations of the Lipatov asymptotic form are presented for some basic problems in theoretical physics. A solution is proposed to the problem of renormalon contributions, which hampered progress in this field in the late 1970s. Practical perturbation-series summation schemes are described both for a coupling constant of order unity and in the strong-coupling limit. An interpretation of the Borel integral is given for 'non-Borel-summable' series. Higher order corrections to the Lipatov asymptotic form are discussed

The American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium was rebuilt in year 2000 as an immersive theater for scientific data visualization to show the universe in context to our planet. Specific astrophysical movie productions provide the main daily programming, but interactive control software, developed at AMNH allows immersive presentation within a data aggregation of astronomical catalogs called the Digital Universe 3D Atlas. Since 2006, WMS globe browsing capabilities have been built into a software development collaboration with Sweden's Linkoping University (LiU). The resulting Uniview software, now a product of the company SCISS, is operated by about fifty planetariums around that world with ability to network amongst the sites for global presentations. Public presentation of NASA GIBS has allowed authoritative narratives to be presented within the range of data available in context to other sources such as Science on a Sphere, NASA Earth Observatory and Google Earth KML resources. Specifically, the NOAA supported World Views Network conducted a series of presentations across the US that focused on local ecological issues that could then be expanded in the course of presentation to national and global scales of examination. NASA support of for GIBS resources in an easy access multi scale streaming format like WMS has tremendously enabled particularly facile presentations of global monitoring like never before. Global networking of theaters for distributed presentations broadens out the potential for impact of this medium. Archiving and refinement of these presentations has already begun to inform new types of documentary productions that examine pertinent, global interdependency topics.

This thesis is about analysis of heavy-tailed time series. We discuss tail properties of real-world equity return series and investigate the possibility that a single tail index is shared by all return series of actively traded equities in a market. Conditions for this hypothesis to be true...... are identified. We study the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of sample covariance and sample auto-covariance matrices of multivariate heavy-tailed time series, and particularly for time series with very high dimensions. Asymptotic approximations of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of such matrices are found...... and expressed in terms of the parameters of the dependence structure, among others. Furthermore, we study an importance sampling method for estimating rare-event probabilities of multivariate heavy-tailed time series generated by matrix recursion. We show that the proposed algorithm is efficient in the sense...

. The problems originating from the resultant “bad order at sea” can be directly felt on land, when smuggling, terrorism and related criminal activities operate more or less unhindered. The book provides an important mapping of the challenges preventing good order at sea off the African coast and East Africa...... in particular. The chapters offer suggestions for increased maritime security in the future and go some way to assist the African Union to implement its maritime strategy and raise the maritime security awareness of its member states....

Full Text Available This paper will delve into the problem of Good Governance in the light of Kong Zi. What makes up a Just State? What are the elements that constitute a prosperous Kingdom? What principles of Confucianism can we employ to achieve a just and humane society? These are the primary questions that we will try to investigate as we go along. The paper will be thus divided into three essential parts: The Notion of Li and the Sovereign, The ConfucianMoral Ideal, and lastly, The Great Commonwealth.

This paper analyzes optimal pricing for information goods under incomplete information, when both unlimited-usage (fixed-fee) pricing and usage-based pricing are feasible, and administering usage-based pricing may involve transaction costs. It is shown that offering fixed- fee pricing in addition to a non-linear usage-based pricing scheme is always profit-improving in the presence of any non-zero transaction costs, and there may be markets in which a pure fixed-fee is optimal. This implies th...

The 1980 Euratom Directive obliges the UK to draw up a system of prior authorization for the use of radioactive substances in a range of consumer products, and the Government intends to make regulations to fulfil the requirements of the Directive. These regulations will empower NRPB to approve such products prior to their supply to the public. In this brief article, the NRPB reviews the criteria against which to consider any proposed use of radioactive substances, considers radiological production standards for products and discusses the questions of the labelling of radioactive consumer goods. (UK)

The TV-series Desperate Housewives is desperately loved by fans and desperately hated by critics. American columnist Jennifer L. Pozner accuses the series of portraying every female character as incompetent, in her opinion that is "just good old fashioned Hollywood crap." But why is this "Hollywood crap" so astonishingly successful (25 million viewers in the US, 3 million viewers in Germany) and who is the typical viewer? Why is the (dead) narrator so important and does the TV-Series really r...

Full Text Available People report themselves to be above average on simple tasks and below average on difficult tasks. This paper proposes an explanation for this effect that is simpler than prior explanations. The new explanation is that people conflate relative with absolute evaluation, especially on subjective measures. The paper then presents a series of four studies that test this conflation explanation. These tests distinguish conflation from other explanations, such as differential weighting and selecting the wrong referent. The results suggest that conflation occurs at the response stage during which people attempt to disambiguate subjective response scales in order to choose an answer. This is because conflation has little effect on objective measures, which would be equally affected if the conflation occurred at encoding.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Multivariate Time-Series (MTS) are ubiquitous, and are generated in areas as disparate as sensor recordings in aerospace systems, music and video streams, medical...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Historical Climatology Series (HCS) is a set of climate-related publications published by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center beginning in 1978. HCS is...

A new method was proposed to pinpoint the compositions with good glass forming ability (GFA) by combining atomic clusters and mixing entropy. The clusters were confirmed by analyzing competing crystalline phases. The method was applied to the Zr–Al–Ni–Cu–Ag alloy system. A series of glass formers with diameter up to 20 mm were quickly detected in this system. The good glass formers were located only after trying 5 compositions around the calculated composition. The method was also effective in other multi-component systems. This method might provide a new way to understand glass formation and to quickly pinpoint compositions with high GFA. - Highlights: • A new method was proposed to quickly design glass formers with high glass forming ability. • The method of designing pentabasic Zr–Al–Ni–Cu–Ag alloys was applied. • A series of new Zr-based bulk metallic glasses with critical diameter of 20 mm were discovered.

A new method was proposed to pinpoint the compositions with good glass forming ability (GFA) by combining atomic clusters and mixing entropy. The clusters were confirmed by analyzing competing crystalline phases. The method was applied to the Zr–Al–Ni–Cu–Ag alloy system. A series of glass formers with diameter up to 20 mm were quickly detected in this system. The good glass formers were located only after trying 5 compositions around the calculated composition. The method was also effective in other multi-component systems. This method might provide a new way to understand glass formation and to quickly pinpoint compositions with high GFA. - Highlights: • A new method was proposed to quickly design glass formers with high glass forming ability. • The method of designing pentabasic Zr–Al–Ni–Cu–Ag alloys was applied. • A series of new Zr-based bulk metallic glasses with critical diameter of 20 mm were discovered

Full Text Available A good book will certainly attract attention of educators and those interested in regular life knowledge. Marija Ajdinska and Velichko Andreevski, well - known pedagogues and special educators, collected thousands of edifying sayings from all over the world and published them as a necessary work for those who think of themselves and others and of life itself. This collection of morals on 300 pages can certainly direct one on the right life path.The morals are divided in 10 chapters – for man and life, woman and love, work and success, good and evil, happiness and hope, freedom and peace, health and age, humanity and friendship, joy and trouble. For each issue there are important considerations and morals, everyone can find a guide for his/her behaviour. Here is one of the morals: “A practical person considers everything in life seriously, but not tragically.”This book of wisdoms reminds us of education and development for everyone. A man was born as a human being that could survive only with the help of other people and learning.

I was talking with some younger colleagues at a meeting last month when the subject of career goals came up. These colleagues were successful in that they had recently received tenure at top research universities and had some grants and good students. Thus, the early career pressure to simply survive was gone. So now what motivated them? Solving challenging and significant scientific problems was at the top of their lists. Interestingly, they were also motivated by a desire to become one of the “good guys” in science. The fact that being an important contributor to the scientific community can be fulfilling should not come as a surprise to anyone. However, what I do consider surprising is how rarely this seems to be discussed with students and postdocs. What we do discuss are either those issues that are fundamental aspects of the job (get a grant, get tenure, do research in an important field) or those that are important to our institutions. Knowing how to do our jobs well is indeed essential for any kind of professional success. However, achieving the right balance in our ambitions is also important for our happiness.

Background and aims Television series watching stepped into a new golden age with the appearance of online series. Being highly involved in series could potentially lead to negative outcomes, but the distinction between highly engaged and problematic viewers should be distinguished. As no appropriate measure is available for identifying such differences, a short and valid measure was constructed in a multistudy investigation: the Series Watching Engagement Scale (SWES). Methods In Study 1 (N Sample1 = 740 and N Sample2 = 740), exploratory structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis were used to identify the most important facets of series watching engagement. In Study 2 (N = 944), measurement invariance of the SWES was investigated between males and females. In Study 3 (N = 1,520), latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify subgroups of viewers. Results Five factors of engagement were identified in Study 1 that are of major relevance: persistence, identification, social interaction, overuse, and self-development. Study 2 supported the high levels of equivalence between males and females. In Study 3, three groups of viewers (low-, medium-, and high-engagement viewers) were identified. The highly engaged at-risk group can be differentiated from the other two along key variables of watching time and personality. Discussion The present findings support the overall validity, reliability, and usefulness of the SWES and the results of the LPA showed that it might be useful to identify at-risk viewers before the development of problematic use.

Awareness that emission of greenhouse gases will raise the global temperature and change the climate has led to studies trying to identify such changes in long-term climate and hydrologic time series. This report, written by the......Awareness that emission of greenhouse gases will raise the global temperature and change the climate has led to studies trying to identify such changes in long-term climate and hydrologic time series. This report, written by the...

An evaluation of a bilingual education TV series was conducted involving 6-year-old English speaking, Spanish speaking, and bilingual children at four sites. Children were assigned to control and experimental groups with the latter group seeing four 30 minute shows. A pretest-posttest design was employed with the pretest serving as the covariate…

Because of its potential for humor and drama, job interviewing is frequently portrayed on television. This article discusses how scenes from popular television series such as "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Friends," and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" can be used to teach effective job interview skills in business communication courses. Television…

Regulatory and market developments have transformed the way in which UK private sector pension schemes operate. This has increased demands on trustees and advisors and the trusteeship governance model must evolve in order to remain fit for purpose. This volume brings together leading practitioners to provide an overview of what today constitutes good governance for pension schemes, from both a legal and a practical perspective. It provides the reader with an appreciation of the distinctive characteristics of UK occupational pension schemes, how they sit within the capital markets and their social and fiduciary responsibilities. Providing a holistic analysis of pension risk, both from the trustee and the corporate perspective, the essays cover the crucial role of the employer covenant, financing and investment risk, developments in longevity risk hedging and insurance de-risking, and best practice scheme administration.

Throughout their life, humans often engage in collective endeavors ranging from family related issues to global warming. In all cases, the tragedy of the commons threatens the possibility of reaching the optimal solution associated with global cooperation, a scenario predicted by theory and demonstrated by many experiments. Using the toolbox of evolutionary game theory, I will address two important aspects of evolutionary dynamics that have been neglected so far in the context of public goods games and evolution of cooperation. On one hand, the fact that often there is a threshold above which a public good is reached [1, 2]. On the other hand, the fact that individuals often participate in several games, related to the their social context and pattern of social ties, defined by a social network [3, 4, 5]. In the first case, the existence of a threshold above which collective action is materialized dictates a rich pattern of evolutionary dynamics where the direction of natural selection can be inverted compared to standard expectations. Scenarios of defector dominance, pure coordination or coexistence may arise simultaneously. Both finite and infinite population models are analyzed. In networked games, cooperation blooms whenever the act of contributing is more important than the effort contributed. In particular, the heterogeneous nature of social networks naturally induces a symmetry breaking of the dilemmas of cooperation, as contributions made by cooperators may become contingent on the social context in which the individual is embedded. This diversity in context provides an advantage to cooperators, which is particularly strong when both wealth and social ties follow a power-law distribution, providing clues on the self-organization of social communities. Finally, in both situations, it can be shown that individuals no longer play a defection dominance dilemma, but effectively engage in a general N-person coordination game. Even if locally defection may seem

Death is a unique experience for each human being, yet there is tremendous societal pressure on a dying person to be a "goodpatient " while trying to experience the "good death. " These pressures shape patient, caregiver, and family choices in end-of-life situations. The purpose of this literature review was twofold: first, to develop an understanding of "dying with dignity" to enhance the end-of-life care received by dying patients, and second, to contribute to a concept analysis of dignity to improve the clarity and consistency of future research related to dignity in aging individuals. Articles pertaining to dying with dignity from the disciplines of nursing, medicine, ethics, psychology, and sociology were reviewed using a matrix method. A dichotomy surrounding dying with dignity emerged from this review. The definition of dignity in dying identifies not only an intrinsic, unconditional quality of human worth, but also the external qualities of physical comfort, autonomy, meaningfulness, usefulness, preparedness, and interpersonal connection. For many elderly individuals, death is a process, rather than a moment in time, resting on a need for balance between the technology of science and the transcendence of spirituality.

"The public" is not homogenous and no single message or form of messaging will connect the entire public with the geosciences. One approach to promoting trust in, and engagement with, the geosciences is to identify specific sectors of the public and then develop interactions and communication products that are immediately relevant to that sector's interests. If the content and delivery are appropriate, this approach empowers people to connect with the geosciences on their own terms and to understand the relevance of the geosciences to their own situation. Federal policy makers are a distinct and influential subgroup of the general public. In preparation for the 2016 presidential election, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) in collaboration with its 51 member societies prepared Geoscience for America's Critical Needs: Invitation to a National Dialogue, a document that identified major geoscience policy issues that should be addressed in a national policy platform. Following the election, AGI worked with eight other geoscience societies to develop Geoscience Policy Recommendations for the New Administration and the 115th Congress, which outlines specific policy actions to address national issues. State and local decision makers are another important subgroup of the public. AGI has developed online content, factsheets, and case studies with different levels of technical complexity so people can explore societally-relevant geoscience topics at their level of technical proficiency. A related webinar series is attracting a growing worldwide audience from many employment sectors. Partnering with government agencies and other scientific and professional societies has increased the visibility and credibility of these information products with our target audience. Surveys and other feedback show that these products are raising awareness of the geosciences and helping to build reciprocal relationships between geoscientists and decision makers. The core message of all

We discuss a class of trigonometric functions whose corresponding Fourier series, on a conveniently chosen interval, can be used to calculate several numerical series. Particular cases are presented and two recent results involving numerical series are recovered. (Contains 1 note.)

The cross correlation coefficient has been widely applied in financial time series analysis, in specific, for understanding chaotic behaviour in terms of stock price and index movements during crisis periods. To better understand time series correlation dynamics, the cross correlation matrices are represented as networks, in which a node stands for an individual time series and a link indicates cross correlation between a pair of nodes. These networks are converted into simpler trees using different schemes. In this context, Minimum Spanning Trees (MST) are the most favoured tree structures because of their ability to preserve all the nodes and thereby retain essential information imbued in the network. Although cross correlations underlying MSTs capture essential information, they do not faithfully capture dynamic behaviour embedded in the time series data of financial systems because cross correlation is a reliable measure only if the relationship between the time series is linear. To address the issue, this work investigates a new measure called phase synchronization (PS) for establishing correlations among different time series which relate to one another, linearly or nonlinearly. In this approach the strength of a link between a pair of time series (nodes) is determined by the level of phase synchronization between them. We compare the performance of phase synchronization based MST with cross correlation based MST along selected network measures across temporal frame that includes economically good and crisis periods. We observe agreement in the directionality of the results across these two methods. They show similar trends, upward or downward, when comparing selected network measures. Though both the methods give similar trends, the phase synchronization based MST is a more reliable representation of the dynamic behaviour of financial systems than the cross correlation based MST because of the former's ability to quantify nonlinear relationships among time

Full Text Available Pulse coupled neural network (PCNN has been widely used in image processing. The 3D binary map series (BMS generated by PCNN effectively describes image feature information such as edges and regional distribution, so BMS can be treated as the basis of extracting 1D oscillation time series (OTS for an image. However, the traditional methods using BMS did not consider the correlation of the binary sequence in BMS and the space structure for every map. By further processing for BMS, a novel facial feature extraction method is proposed. Firstly, consider the correlation among maps in BMS; a method is put forward to transform BMS into frequency map series (FMS, and the method lessens the influence of noncontinuous feature regions in binary images on OTS-BMS. Then, by computing the 2D entropy for every map in FMS, the 3D FMS is transformed into 1D OTS (OTS-FMS, which has good geometry invariance for the facial image, and contains the space structure information of the image. Finally, by analyzing the OTS-FMS, the standard Euclidean distance is used to measure the distances for OTS-FMS. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of OTS-FMS in facial recognition, and it shows better recognition performance than other feature extraction methods.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The global precipitation time series provides time series charts showing observations of daily precipitation as well as accumulated precipitation compared to normal...

Full Text Available Marketing has put forward for a long time the fact that any activity conducted in an organization should consider an intimate knowledge of the client, and a close look at the green marketing practices used over time shows that eco-friendly products should be positioned in relation to those attributes looked for by the involved consumers. In this context, the following paper reveals some important aspects regarding the Romanian green market and the characteristics of the green consumer behavior together with solutions that marketers can apply to stimulate the consumption of green goods.

Describes some of the relatively unknown aspects of the concept of public goods and shows how they might be brought into undergraduate textbooks in microeconomic principles, public finance, and welfare economics. Illustrates how these aspects of public goods can be brought into undergraduate instruction. (DB)

In the irradiation process of piling up goods in static state, four irradiation working sites and single plate source was adopted. The results showed that piling up in this way remarkably raised the irradiation quality of goods. The utilization rate of radioactive ray reached 22.27%

We show that investments in public goods change the optimal land use in their vicinity, leading to additional welfare benefits. This occurs through two sorting mechanisms. First, availability of public goods leads to higher population densities. Second, population groups sort according to their

We introduce a platform which supplies an easy-to-handle, interactive, extendable, and fast analysis tool for time series analysis. In contrast to other software suits like Maple, Matlab, or R, which use a command-line-like interface and where the user has to memorize/look-up the appropriate...... commands, our application is select-and-click-driven. It allows to derive many different sequences of deviations for a given time series and to visualize them in different ways in order to judge their expressive power and to reuse the procedure found. For many transformations or model-ts, the user may...... choose between manual and automated parameter selection. The user can dene new transformations and add them to the system. The application contains efficient implementations of advanced and recent techniques for time series analysis including techniques related to extreme value analysis and filtering...

Radiation protection is based on the ICRP-System with its pillars justification, limitation and optimization. From this radiation protection should be the same irrespective of the application of radiation. But radiation protection in the nuclear industry is much different from the use of radiation sources or X-ray units. This is by far not due to the different technologies. It originates from the different interpretation of the system. For one person good radiation protection would mean to have no radiation exposures, to avoid radiation at all as best option and to use it only if there are no alternatives. For another person the best radiation protection would be the one which does not produce much efforts and costs. So what is reasonable? In reality the first interpretation prevails, at least in Germany. A change is needed. If we continue to exercise radiation protection as we do it today the beneficial application of radiation will be restricted unduly and might become impossible at all. A stronger orientation towards the naturally occurring radiation would help instead to regulate natural radiation in the same way as it is done for artificial radiation. The system of ICRP has to be changed fundamentally.

Full Text Available “Normal science” is a concept introduced by Thomas Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962. In Kuhn’s view, normal science means “puzzle solving”, solving problems within the paradigm—framework most successful in solving current major scientific problems—rather than producing major novelties. This paper examines Kuhnian and Popperian accounts of normal science and their criticisms to assess if normal science is good. The advantage of normal science according to Kuhn was “psychological”: subjective satisfaction from successful “puzzle solving”. Popper argues for an “intellectual” science, one that consistently refutes conjectures (hypotheses and offers new ideas rather than focus on personal advantages. His account is criticized as too impersonal and idealistic. Feyerabend’s perspective seems more balanced; he argues for a community that would introduce new ideas, defend old ones, and enable scientists to develop in line with their subjective preferences. The paper concludes that normal science has no one clear-cut set of criteria encompassing its meaning and enabling clear assessment.

Whether it's a basic Mr. Coffee or a gadget that sports a snazzy device for grinding beans on demand, the office coffee machine offers a place for serendipitous encounters that can improve the social aspect of work and generate new ideas. What's more, a steaming cup of joe may be as good for your health as it is for the bottom line, says Lee, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the CEO of Partners Community HealthCare. Fears of coffee's carcinogenic effects now appear to be unfounded, and, in fact, the brew might even protect against some types of cancer. What's more, coffee may guard against Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia and somehow soften the blow of a heart attack. Of course, its role as a pick-me-up is well known. So there's no need to take your coffee with a dollop of guilt, especially if you ease up on the sugar, cream, double chocolate, and whipped-cream topping.

Interpretation shares commonalities with Geophysics and the AAPG Bulletin in that it is a peer-reviewed journal. Unlike Geophysics and the AAPG Bulletin, Interpretation is built around special sections headed by a team of special-section editors who are either experts or particularly interested in the focused area. In addition to constructing a Call for Papers announcing their special section, the special-section editors also will solicit papers from colleagues, competitors, technology suppliers, and others that they believe may have contributions of interest to the Interpretation readership community. Submitted papers then are assigned by the special editors to three or more reviewers, many of whom are contributors to (and hence expert in) the same special-section topic. By design, the special section-structure of Interpretation reaches authors, editors, and reviewers who previously may not have been involved in the peer-review process. Recognizing this fact, in this article the standing editorial board attempts to summarize some of the more important qualities of what we find to be a good reviewer.

The campaign Water is a public good have been upheld by Ecofondo since march 2005,searching to develop public policies related to water justice forwarded from local experiences hold on by social organizations around the country. Colombia are a tropical country, one the most biological and cultural diverse in the world and is plentiful of water rivers ant other water bodies.However, there is an imminent environmental crisis named too a cultural crisis caused by the uses of land and natural resources. The actual public policies related to water supply, waste disposals and environmental conservation are weak indeed the complexity of the causes. The public service's privatization in Colombia early on the 90's that increased the fee and the governmental intention to privatise the water, struggle people against that and it is expressed trough conflicts related to access to natural resources. The water become a reason to social mobilization that in the near future will intent to change the National Constitution to take in, the water as a human right, the water supply as a public service only, and the special importance of the ecosystem regulators of the water cycle

Interpretation shares commonalities with Geophysics and the AAPG Bulletin in that it is a peer-reviewed journal. Unlike Geophysics and the AAPG Bulletin, Interpretation is built around special sections headed by a team of special-section editors who are either experts or particularly interested in the focused area. In addition to constructing a Call for Papers announcing their special section, the special-section editors also will solicit papers from colleagues, competitors, technology suppliers, and others that they believe may have contributions of interest to the Interpretation readership community. Submitted papers then are assigned by the special editors to three or more reviewers, many of whom are contributors to (and hence expert in) the same special-section topic. By design, the special section-structure of Interpretation reaches authors, editors, and reviewers who previously may not have been involved in the peer-review process. Recognizing this fact, in this article the standing editorial board attempts to summarize some of the more important qualities of what we find to be a good reviewer.

We document significant “time series momentum” in equity index, currency, commodity, and bond futures for each of the 58 liquid instruments we consider. We find persistence in returns for one to 12 months that partially reverses over longer horizons, consistent with sentiment theories of initial...... under-reaction and delayed over-reaction. A diversified portfolio of time series momentum strategies across all asset classes delivers substantial abnormal returns with little exposure to standard asset pricing factors and performs best during extreme markets. Examining the trading activities...

""There is scarcely a standard technique that the reader will find left out … this book is highly recommended for those requiring a ready introduction to applicable methods in time series and serves as a useful resource for pedagogical purposes.""-International Statistical Review (2014), 82""Current time series theory for practice is well summarized in this book.""-Emmanuel Parzen, Texas A&M University""What an extraordinary range of topics covered, all very insightfully. I like [the authors'] innovations very much, such as the AR factor table.""-David Findley, U.S. Census Bureau (retired)""…

We present a forecasting technique for chaotic data. After embedding a time series in a state space using delay coordinates, we ''learn'' the induced nonlinear mapping using local approximation. This allows us to make short-term predictions of the future behavior of a time series, using information based only on past values. We present an error estimate for this technique, and demonstrate its effectiveness by applying it to several examples, including data from the Mackey-Glass delay differential equation, Rayleigh-Benard convection, and Taylor-Couette flow

Using a unique data set, I study how stock markets react to positive and negative events concerned with a firm's corporate social responsibility (CSR). I show that investors respond strongly negatively to negative events and weakly negatively to positive events. I then show that investors do value "offsetting CSR", that is positive CSR news concerning firms with a history of poor stakeholder relations. In contrast, investors respond negatively to positive CSR news which is more likely to resu...

ARMA class. In most cases the relative improvement of SETAR models against AR models of first order was low ranging between 1% and 4% with the exception of the three-regime model for the River Stour time-series where the improvement was 48.9%. In comparison, the relative improvement of MSW models was between 44.6% and 52.5 for two-regime and from 60.4% to 75% for three-regime models. However, the visual assessment of models plotted against original datasets showed that despite a high value of RSS, some ARMA models could describe the analyzed time-series better than AR, MA and SETAR models with lower values of RSS. In both datasets MSW models provided a very good visual fit describing most of the extreme values.

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Good faith. 93.210 Section 93.210 Public Health... MISCONDUCT Definitions § 93.210 Good faith. Good faith as applied to a complainant or witness, means having a... allegation or cooperation with a research misconduct proceeding is not in good faith if made with knowing or...

The term "common good" names the end (or final cause) of political and social life in the tradition of moral thought that owes its main substance to Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas. It names a genuine good ("bonum honestum") and not merely an instrumental or secondary good defeasible in the face of particular goods. However, at the same time, it…

A smile comes easily to the face of Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as he encounters visitors to his offices at the Institute. He does not, however, allow himself to be distracted from his duties for longer than it takes to nod warmly. The sense of discipline and the determination and preparedness that were instilled in him through a Jesuit course of education are apparent. He is as direct and as clear spoken in person as you've seen him on television, speaking on innumerable occasions over the past two decades about the pathology and treatment of AIDS, and more recently, delineating the public health from the national security issues precipitated by the bioterrorist events of the past year. The three office assistants who occupy his reception area have been particularly taxed in the management of Fauci's schedule since 9/11; as they pause briefly from their work to share photographs of a friend's recent wedding, Fauci is there to admonish them, semi-good-naturally, as government employees, to return to their official duties. He has been meeting with high government officials and has been courted by the media for interviews regularly since the tragedies began. Given his high profile, it is easy to forget that Fauci is, foremost, a clinical immunobiologist and physician. His dedication to science is part of his commitment to public service, also a value instilled in him by the Jesuits. Fortunately for all of us, Fauci was pursuing this combination of interests--within the venue of bioterrorism--in his official capacity at the NIAID well before the general public had awaken to the threat.

Electric power has traditionally been classified as a non-traded good, produced and consumed within the country of origin. More recently, electricity has been traded across national borders and in certain cases, viz., Bhutan, has been the dominant export; in other situations, it is used to repay debts owed to neighboring countries. This paper investigates the role of electricity as the primary export, analyzes its valuation, and then goes on to evaluate the impact on the terms of trade. We conclude that in the medium-term, the electric power exporting economy would be better off developing its manufacturing sector to diversify its exposure and to protect its trade interests. The case of Bhutanese hydro-electricity exports to India is studied and the change in trade advantage with every increase in power tariff is ascertained. It is found that a 1.26% annual increase in (non-food) consumer prices is correlated with a 1% increase in electricity export tariff. While the causality from electric power tariff to Indian manufactures prices is not established statistically, a change in manufactures prices feeding back into consumer prices in Bhutan is statistically significant. Suggestions are offered for Bhutan to reduce dependence on Indian imports and to diversify its export market exposure. - Highlights: • Electricity as principal export of small economy. • Bilateral trade with large economy. • Tourism as major income generator for small economy. • Partial equilibrium model involving key variables. • Small economy would need to diversify. • Important subject for inter-temporal and inter-regional trade of power

A two-stage forecasting approach for long memory time series is introduced. In the first step we estimate the fractional exponent and, applying the fractional differencing operator, we obtain the underlying weakly dependent series. In the second step, we perform the multi-step ahead forecasts...... for the weakly dependent series and obtain their long memory counterparts by applying the fractional cumulation operator. The methodology applies to stationary and nonstationary cases. Simulations and an application to seven time series provide evidence that the new methodology is more robust to structural...... change and yields good forecasting results....

Full Text Available During the period of planned economy only a limited section of society with high social status had an access to elite goods in our country. At present an access to these goods is not regulated, and elite goods trade market in Russia is developing rapidly. In the article the essence of "elite good" and "regional elite goods market" concepts is defined, the classification of elite goods markets is given, also the main factors and tendencies of elite goods market development in the Ural Region is analyzed.

Intelligent computing tools such as artificial neural network (ANN) and fuzzy logic approaches are proven to be efficient when applied individually to a variety of problems. Recently there has been a growing interest in combining both these approaches, and as a result, neuro-fuzzy computing techniques have evolved. This approach has been tested and evaluated in the field of signal processing and related areas, but researchers have only begun evaluating the potential of this neuro-fuzzy hybrid approach in hydrologic modeling studies. This paper presents the application of an adaptive neuro fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) to hydrologic time series modeling, and is illustrated by an application to model the river flow of Baitarani River in Orissa state, India. An introduction to the ANFIS modeling approach is also presented. The advantage of the method is that it does not require the model structure to be known a priori, in contrast to most of the time series modeling techniques. The results showed that the ANFIS forecasted flow series preserves the statistical properties of the original flow series. The model showedgood performance in terms of various statistical indices. The results are highly promising, and a comparative analysis suggests that the proposed modeling approach outperforms ANNs and other traditional time series models in terms of computational speed, forecast errors, efficiency, peak flow estimation etc. It was observed that the ANFIS model preserves the potential of the ANN approach fully, and eases the model building process.

In recent years, Danish television drama series have become an internationally acclaimed export success. This article analyses the development on the domestic market lying behind this international recognition. A change in production dogmas has formed the characteristics of these successful Danish...... the characteristics of these productions and the development of their audience profiles across age, gender and educational level....

Unity-Diversity series are open compositions to be realised by improvising musicians. See more about my composition practise in the entry "Composition - General Introduction". This work is licensed under a Creative Commons "by-nc" License. You may for non-commercial purposes use and distribute it...

Hofmeister, or lyotropic, series date back to 1888, when the founder arranged a large number of electrolytes in sequences with respect to their effectiveness salting out egg white. Since then the name has been applied to various phenomena involving ion specificity. In order to isolate effects

We investigate the evolution of cooperation with evolutionary public goods games based on finite populations, where four pure strategies: cooperators, defectors, punishers and loners who are unwilling to participate are considered. By adopting approximate best response dynamics, we show that the magnitude of rationality not only quantitatively explains the experiment results in [Nature (London) 425 (2003) 390], but also it will heavily influence the evolution of cooperation. Compared with previous results of infinite populations, which result in two equilibriums, we show that there merely exists a special equilibrium and the relevant high value of bounded rationality will sustain cooperation. In addition, we characterize that loner's payoff plays an active role in the maintenance of cooperation, which will only be warranted for the low and moderate values of loner's payoff. It thus indicates the effects of rationality and loner's payoff will influence the cooperation. Finally, we highlight the important result that the introduction of voluntary participation and punishment will facilitate cooperation greatly. (general)

Full Text Available Article was made to answer these several questions which are how is application marketing mix of new product PT Martina Berto, what is new product atribute the most dominate for customer and how is buying decided behavior Biokos BOTU-Like Series. The result of the research show that application of marketing mix of by PT Martina Berto is good, customers are satisfaction that service Biokos BOTU-LIKE Series so they will to buy again and new product attribute the most dominate is price attribute at price level Rp94.500,00.

Since aptitude tests indicate an individual's abilities, they are useful in career planning and in self evaluation. Aptitudes that show no sex differences, and those at which both women and men excel are listed. The Human Engineering Laboratory, which studies human aptitudes, is described. (GDC)

Information from a series of Virginia Tech studies reveals current trends in core utilization by the pallet industry. The most recent report released this year studied trends from 2006. Virginia Tech researchers compared these results to five previous studies going all the way back to 1992.

Our understanding of a variety of phenomena in physics, biology and economics crucially depends on the analysis of multivariate time series. While a wide range tools and techniques for time series analysis already exist, the increasing availability of massive data structures calls for new approaches for multidimensional signal processing. We present here a non-parametric method to analyse multivariate time series, based on the mapping of a multidimensional time series into a multilayer network, which allows to extract information on a high dimensional dynamical system through the analysis of the structure of the associated multiplex network. The method is simple to implement, general, scalable, does not require ad hoc phase space partitioning, and is thus suitable for the analysis of large, heterogeneous and non-stationary time series. We show that simple structural descriptors of the associated multiplex networks allow to extract and quantify nontrivial properties of coupled chaotic maps, including the transition between different dynamical phases and the onset of various types of synchronization. As a concrete example we then study financial time series, showing that a multiplex network analysis can efficiently discriminate crises from periods of financial stability, where standard methods based on time-series symbolization often fail.

In our previous work (Kato and Terashima, Commun Math Phys. arXiv:1403.6569, 2014), we introduced the partition q-series for mutation loop γ—a loop in exchange quiver. In this paper, we show that for a certain class of mutation sequences, called reddening sequences, the graded version of partition q-series essentially coincides with the ordered product of quantum dilogarithm associated with each mutation; the partition q-series provides a state-sum description of combinatorial Donaldson-Thomas invariants introduced by Keller.

Autophagy is a well-established mechanism to degrade intracellular components and provide a nutrient source to promote survival of cells in metabolic distress. Such stress can be caused by a lack of available nutrients or by insufficient rates of nutrient uptake. Indeed, growth factor deprivation leads to internalization and degradation of nutrient transporters, leaving cells with limited means to access extracellular nutrients even when plentiful.This loss of growth factor signaling and extracellular nutrients ultimately leads to apoptosis, but also activates autophagy, which may degrade intracellular components and provide fuel for mitochondrial bioenergetics. The precise metabolic role of autophagy and how it intersects with the apoptotic pathways in growth factor withdrawal, however, has been uncertain. Our recent findings ingrowth factor-deprived hematopoietic cells show that autophagy can simultaneously contribute to cell metabolism and initiate a pathway to sensitize cells to apoptotic death. This pathway may promote tissue homeostasis by ensuring that only cells with high resistance to apoptosis may utilize autophagy as a survival mechanism when growth factors are limiting and nutrient uptake decreases.

HTML and CSS are the workhorses of web design, and using them together to build consistent, reliable web pages requires both skill and knowledge. The task is more difficult if you're relying on outdated, confusing, and unnecessary HTML hacks and workarounds. Author Ben Henick shows you how to avoid those traps by going beyond the standard tips, tricks, and techniques to connect the underlying theory and design of HTML and CSS to your everyday work habits. With this practical book, you'll learn how to work with these tools far more effectively than is standard practice for most web developers

Full Text Available A series of eight substituted bis-2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives was synthesized through lawsone condensation with various aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes under mild acidic conditions. The title compounds were evaluated for antileishmanial activity in vitro against Leishmania amazonensis and Leishmania braziliensis promastigotes; six compounds showedgood activity without significant toxic effects. The compound with the highest activity was used for an in vivo assay with Leishmania amazonensis.

We establish a series representation of the Hill discriminant based on the spectral parameter power series (SPPS) recently introduced by Kravchenko. We also show the invariance of the Hill discriminant under a Darboux transformation and employing the Mathieu case the feasibility of this type of series for numerical calculations of the eigenspectrum.

For its third edition, the Museum d'histoire des sciences invites you to a Science Night under the banner of waves and undulations. Scientists, artists and storytellers from more than forty institutes and local or regional associations will show in only one weekend that waves and undulations form an integral part of our daily environment. Telephones, televisions, radios, irons, lighting, music, sun rays, stars, rainbows, earthquakes and other natural phenomena - all produce, emit or receive waves or undulations. The visitors attending the Night will be able to get in contact with the nature of waves through interactive exhibitions on sound and light and through hands-on demonstrations arranged around the Bartholoni villa and in the Park of the Perle du lac. An amusing and distracting way to familiarize yourself with the concepts of wavelength, frequency and interference lengths... In addition to the stands, the Night will offer many other activities: reconstructions of critical experiments, scientific consu...

Next week-end, the Geneva Science History Museum invites you to a Science Night under the banner of waves and vibrations. Scientists, artists and storytellers from more than forty institutes and local or regional associations will show that waves and vibrations form an integral part of our environment. You will be able to get in contact with the nature of waves through interactive exhibitions on sound and light and through hands-on demonstrations arranged in the Park of the Perle du Lac. On the CERN stand, you will be able to measure the speed of light with a bar of chocolate, and understand the scattering of waves with plastic ducks. Amazing, no? In addition to the stands, the Night will offer many other activities: reconstructions of experiments, a play, a concert of crystal glasses, an illuminated fountain, a house of spirits. More information Science Night, 6 and 7 July, Park of the Perle du Lac, Geneva

Awards aplenty for one CERN theorist as he wins the Amaldi Medal and is one of two theoreticians from CERN to be awarded the European Research Council’s ‘advanced grant’ Sergio Ferrara showing his Amaldi medal. Ignatios Antoniadis.On 22 September at the congress of the Italian Society of General Relativity and Gravitation (SIGRAV), CERN theorist Sergio Ferrara was awarded the Amaldi Medal, the European prize for general relativity and gravitational physics. He received the prestigious award for his continuing research into supergravity, a theory that combines the principles of supersymmetry and general relativity. Ferrara co-discovered supergravity in 1976 with two colleagues, Peter van Nieuwenhuizen and Daniel Freedman, but he received this recent award for his work on black holes in supergravity. Since its development, supergravity, or SUGRA, has played an important role in theoretical physics. If supersymmetry is pro...

.... This document contains articles on consumer goods and domestic trade within the USSR. Topics include: consumer goods production and distribution, housing and personal services, and consumer sector policy and economics.

Good building layouts are required to conform to regulatory guidelines, while meeting certain quality measures. While different methods can sample the space of such good layouts, there exists little support for a user to understand

Full Text Available The monthly average temperature series of Quetta – Pakistan from 1950 – 2000 is examined. A straight line is fitted to the data and seasonal variation and trend in temperature for each month of the year were obtained. An overall model is constructed as large variations in the monthly slopes were observed. In order to describe the seasonal pattern and trend in temperature, corresponding to the different months, both sine/cosine waves and sine/cosine waves multiplied by the time were included in the model as independent variables. The lag-1 autocorrelation was found in the residual of the model and hence another model was fitted to the pre-whiten series that shows a good fit ( and is free from correlated residuals. Both parametric and non-parametric tests applied to each month temperature show significant trend in all months except February and March.

This chapter argues that the relation of being good-for someone is prior to the property of being good. After discussing the views of Moore, Geach, Foot, and Rawls, the author argues that there are final goods because there are conscious animals. Hedonists also believe this, but think of goodness as an intrinsic property of certain conscious states—pleasant ones. This is because they mistake pleasure for sensation and so for an object of experience. After advancing an alternative conception o...

of the partitioning cost is caused by rearranging elements. A rigorous analysis of an algorithm for rearranging elements in the partitioning step is carried out, observing mainly how often array cells are accessed during partitioning. The algorithm behaves best if three to five pivots are used. Experiments show...... that this translates into good cache behavior and is closest to predicting observed running times of multi-pivot quicksort algorithms. Finally, it is studied how choosing pivots from a sample affects sorting cost. The study is theoretical in the sense that although the findings motivate design recommendations...... as the standard sorting algorithm in Sun’s Java 7. In 2014 at ALENEX, Kushagra et al. introduced an even faster algorithm that uses three pivots. This article studies what possible advantages multi-pivot quicksort might offer in general. The contributions are as follows: Natural comparison-optimal algorithms...

Leaving the joint enterprise when defection is unveiled is always a viable option to avoid being exploited. Although loner strategy helps the population not to be trapped into the tragedy of the commons state, it could offer only a modest income for nonparticipants. In this paper we demonstrate that showing some tolerance toward defectors could not only save cooperation in harsh environments but in fact results in a surprisingly high average payoff for group members in public goods games. Phase diagrams and the underlying spatial patterns reveal the high complexity of evolving states where cyclic dominant strategies or two-strategy alliances can characterize the final state of evolution. We identify microscopic mechanisms which are responsible for the superiority of global solutions containing tolerant players. This phenomenon is robust and can be observed both in well-mixed and in structured populations highlighting the importance of tolerance in our everyday life.

A retrospective post-occupancy evaluation survey of 44 occupants in two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum buildings on a US college campus is reported. The Internet survey covered a range of indoor environment and ergonomics issues. Results show that working in these buildings were a generally positive experience for their health, performance and satisfaction. However, in one building there were persistent issues of variability in air temperature, air freshness, air quality and noise that affected the perceived health and performance of the occupants. Although the buildings were energy-efficient and sustainable structures, ergonomics design issues were identified. Implications for the role of ergonomics in green buildings and in the US LEED rating system are discussed. This survey identified a number of ergonomics design issues present in the LEED Platinum energy-efficient and sustainable buildings that were studied. These results highlight the importance of integrating ergonomics design into green buildings as a component in the US LEED rating system.

In the recent decades various homogenisation methods have been developed, but the real effects of their application on time series are still not known sufficiently. The ongoing COST action HOME (COST ES0601) is devoted to reveal the real impacts of homogenisation methods more detailed and with higher confidence than earlier. As a part of the COST activity, a benchmark dataset was built whose characteristics approach well the characteristics of real networks of observed time series. This dataset offers much better opportunity than ever before to test the wide variety of homogenisation methods, and analyse the real effects of selected theoretical recommendations. Empirical results show that real observed time series usually include several inhomogeneities of different sizes. Small inhomogeneities often have similar statistical characteristics than natural changes caused by climatic variability, thus the pure application of the classic theory that change-points of observed time series can be found and corrected one-by-one is impossible. However, after homogenisation the linear trends, seasonal changes and long-term fluctuations of time series are usually much closer to the reality than in raw time series. Some problems around detecting multiple structures of inhomogeneities, as well as that of time series comparisons within homogenisation procedures are discussed briefly in the study.

Network based time series analysis has made considerable achievements in the recent years. By mapping mono/multivariate time series into networks, one can investigate both it's microscopic and macroscopic behaviors. However, most proposed approaches lead to the construction of static networks consequently providing limited information on evolutionary behaviors. In the present paper we propose a method called visibility graph based time series analysis, in which series segments are mapped to visibility graphs as being descriptions of the corresponding states and the successively occurring states are linked. This procedure converts a time series to a temporal network and at the same time a network of networks. Findings from empirical records for stock markets in USA (S&P500 and Nasdaq) and artificial series generated by means of fractional Gaussian motions show that the method can provide us rich information benefiting short-term and long-term predictions. Theoretically, we propose a method to investigate time series from the viewpoint of network of networks.

Full Text Available Network based time series analysis has made considerable achievements in the recent years. By mapping mono/multivariate time series into networks, one can investigate both it's microscopic and macroscopic behaviors. However, most proposed approaches lead to the construction of static networks consequently providing limited information on evolutionary behaviors. In the present paper we propose a method called visibility graph based time series analysis, in which series segments are mapped to visibility graphs as being descriptions of the corresponding states and the successively occurring states are linked. This procedure converts a time series to a temporal network and at the same time a network of networks. Findings from empirical records for stock markets in USA (S&P500 and Nasdaq and artificial series generated by means of fractional Gaussian motions show that the method can provide us rich information benefiting short-term and long-term predictions. Theoretically, we propose a method to investigate time series from the viewpoint of network of networks.

-product situation (whether to buy organic food or not). This design provides a possibility to detect whether any effect of generalized trust is due to strategic behavior or due to altruistic motives among trusters. The results show that generalized trust enhances recycling significantly whereas it only has a very......This paper tests the hypothesis that generalized trust helps solve large-n collective action problems in a rationalistic framework. A rigors test is employed in that the hypothesis is tested in two different choice situations; a pure public good situation (whether to recycle or not) and a joint...... week positive effect on organic food consumption. Hence, generalized trust only affects public good provision when a collective action problem is present. The analyses thus sustain the hypothesis. It is furthermore concluded that the effect of generalized trust is due to strategic behavior...

If voters care for the relative supply of public goods compared to otherjurisdictions, decentralized provision of public goods will be too high.Potentially, centralization internalizes the negative externalities fromthe production of these `conspicuous' public goods. However, in amodel of strategic

Niacin can boost 'good' cholesterol Niacin is a B vitamin that may raise your HDL ("good") cholesterol. But side effects might outweigh benefits for most ... been used to increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol — the "good" cholesterol that helps remove low-density ...

Benchmark two-good utility functions involving a good with zero income elasticity and unit income elasticity are well known. This paper derives utility functions for the additional benchmark cases where one good has zero cross-price elasticity, unit own-price elasticity, and zero own price

Sixty days of Doppler images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) / Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) investigation during the 1996 and 2008 solar minima have been analyzed to show that certain supergranule characteristics (size, size range, and horizontal velocity) exhibit fluctuations of three to five days. Cross-correlating parameters showed a good, positive correlation between supergranulation size and size range, and a moderate, negative correlation between size range and velocity. The size and velocity do exhibit a moderate, negative correlation, but with a small time lag (less than 12 hours). Supergranule sizes during five days of co-temporal data from MDI and the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) / Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) exhibit similar fluctuations with a high level of correlation between them. This verifies the solar origin of the fluctuations, which cannot be caused by instrumental artifacts according to these observations. Similar fluctuations are also observed in data simulations that model the evolution of the MDI Doppler pattern over a 60-day period. Correlations between the supergranule size and size range time-series derived from the simulated data are similar to those seen in MDI data. A simple toy-model using cumulative, uncorrelated exponential growth and decay patterns at random emergence times produces a time-series similar to the data simulations. The qualitative similarities between the simulated and the observed time-series suggest that the fluctuations arise from stochastic processes occurring within the solar convection zone. This behavior, propagating to surface manifestations of supergranulation, may assist our understanding of magnetic-field-line advection, evolution, and interaction.

One of the finest expositors in the field of modern mathematics, Dr. Konrad Knopp here concentrates on a topic that is of particular interest to 20th-century mathematicians and students. He develops the theory of infinite sequences and series from its beginnings to a point where the reader will be in a position to investigate more advanced stages on his own. The foundations of the theory are therefore presented with special care, while the developmental aspects are limited by the scope and purpose of the book. All definitions are clearly stated; all theorems are proved with enough detail to ma

Full Text Available Tattoo is going to be a very common practice especially among young people and we are witnessing a gradual increase of numerous potential complications to tattoo placement which are often seen by physicians, but generally unknown to the public. The most common skin reactions to tattoo include a transient acute inflammatory reaction due to trauma of the skin with needles and medical complications such as superficial and deep local infections, systemic infections, allergic contact dermatitis, photodermatitis, granulomatous and lichenoid reactions, and skin diseases localized on tattooed area (eczema, psoriasis, lichen, and morphea. In this series we present three cases of tattoo reaction.

One hundred people who were accused either of murder (70 persons) or of attempted murder (30 persons) in Queensland were personally examined by the writer. The methods, motives, and ways of prevention of homicide are discussed. A considerable preportion of murderers in this series were either mentally ill or severely emotionally disturbed at the time the crime was committed, and at least one in 10 of these murders could have been prevented. It is recommended that the treatment and assessment of potentially violent psychotic patients should be undertaken more carefully, and that the antipsychiatrist campaigns for the freedom of the individual should be tempered with a consideration for public safety.

This text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students introduces Hilbert space and analytic function theory, which is centered around the invariant subspace concept. The book's principal feature is the extensive use of formal power series methods to obtain and sometimes reformulate results of analytic function theory. The presentation is elementary in that it requires little previous knowledge of analysis, but it is designed to lead students to an advanced level of performance. This is achieved chiefly through the use of problems, many of which were proposed by former students. The book's

In time series modeling, the behavior of a certain phenomenon is expressed in relation to the past values of itself and other covariates. Since many important phenomena in statistical analysis are actually time series and the identification of conditional distribution of the phenomenon is an essential part of the statistical modeling, it is very important and useful to learn fundamental methods of time series modeling. Illustrating how to build models for time series using basic methods, "Introduction to Time Series Modeling" covers numerous time series models and the various tools f

In order to extract correlation information inherited in stochastic time series, the visibility graph algorithm has been recently proposed, by which a time series can be mapped onto a complex network. We demonstrate that the visibility algorithm is not an appropriate one to study the correlation aspects of a time series. We then employ the horizontal visibility algorithm, as a much simpler one, to map fractional processes onto complex networks. The degree distributions are shown to have parabolic exponential forms with Hurst dependent fitting parameter. Further, we take into account other topological properties such as maximum eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix and the degree assortativity, and show that such topological quantities can also be used to predict the Hurst exponent, with an exception for anti-persistent fractional Gaussian noises. To solve this problem, we take into account the Spearman correlation coefficient between nodes' degrees and their corresponding data values in the original time series.

We are in the process of assessing the effectiveness of fractal and entropic measures for the diagnostic of low back pain from surface electromyography (EMG) time series. Surface electromyography (EMG) is used to assess patients with low back pain. In a typical EMG measurement, the voltage is measured every millisecond. We observed back muscle fatiguing during one minute, which results in a time series with 60,000 entries. We characterize the complexity of time series by computing the Shannon entropy time dependence. The analysis of the time series from different relevant muscles from healthy and low back pain (LBP) individuals provides evidence that the level of variability of back muscle activities is much larger for healthy individuals than for individuals with LBP. In general the time dependence of the entropy shows a crossover from a diffusive regime to a regime characterized by long time correlations (self organization) at about 0.01s.

Researchers have discovered inconsistent relationships between prosocial motives and citizenship behaviors. We draw on impression management theory to propose that impression management motives strengthen the association between prosocial motives and affiliative citizenship by encouraging employees to express citizenship in ways that both "do good" and "look good." We report 2 studies that examine the interactions of prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship using multisource data from 2 different field samples. Across the 2 studies, we find positive interactions between prosocial and impression management motives as predictors of affiliative citizenship behaviors directed toward other people (helping and courtesy) and the organization (initiative). Study 2 also shows that only prosocial motives predict voice-a challenging citizenship behavior. Our results suggest that employees who are both good soldiers and good actors are most likely to emerge as good citizens in promoting the status quo.

into the latter that preserves divergence-freedom and symmetries. This paper argues that there are nevertheless "good" encodings between these calculi. In detail, we present a series of encodings for languages with (1) input-guarded choice, (2) both input and output-guarded choice, and (3) mixed-guarded choice......, and investigate them with respect to compositionality and divergence-freedom. The first and second encoding satisfy all of the above criteria, but various "good" candidates for the third encoding-inspired by an existing distributed implementation-invalidate one or the other criterion, While essentially confirming...... Palamidessi's result, our study suggests that the combination of strong compositionality and divergence-freedom is too strong for more practical purposes. (C) 2000 Academic Press....

Earlier studies have found that a substantial part of the contributions in public good games can be explained by subjects misperceiving the game's incentives. Using a large-scale public good experiment, we show that subtle changes in how the game is framed substantially affect such misperceptions...... and that this explains major parts of framing effect on subjects' behavior. When controlling for the different levels of misperception between frames, the framing effect on subjects' cooperation preferences disappears.......Earlier studies have found that a substantial part of the contributions in public good games can be explained by subjects misperceiving the game's incentives. Using a large-scale public good experiment, we show that subtle changes in how the game is framed substantially affect such misperceptions...

) pointed to, is weakened and might even be reversed in this context. Also, the median voter may choose a negative tax rate, even if he is poorer than the mean, in order to stimulate public goods production. The relevance of the model is illustrated with an application to the finance of higher education.......The paper studies in a simple, Downsian model of political competition how the private provision of public goods is affected when it is embedded in a system of democracy and redistributive taxation. Results show that the positive effect of inequality on public goods production, which Olson (1965...

Full Text Available This article aims to analyze the seller's obligations under the Convention on International Sale of Goods (CISG and in particular the obligation to deliver the goodsshowing the main issues that arise in an international sale. We also wish to point the major innovations or improvements brought by the CISG in comparison to the European civil codes regulation and to conclude if the CSIG managed to revolutionize the tradition view on this issue.

Negativity is a news ideology, and its negative effects on attitude formation are widely documented. Contrary to this view, the present study demonstrates that negative economic news can in fact be good news. Based on a two-wave national panel survey and a media content analysis, we show that individual exposure to negative economic news enhances internal economic efficacy, a sense of competence in and understanding of the economy. This is good news as internal economic efficacy may facilitat...

In the present paper one approach used under development of radioactive waste management conception is under consideration. This approach is based on the principle of natural and artificial radioactive series radiotoxic equivalency. The radioactivity of natural and artificial radioactive series has been calculated for 10 9 - years period. The toxicity evaluation for natural and artificial series has also been made. The correlation between natural radioactive series and their predecessors - actinides produced in thermal and fast reactors - has been considered. It has been shown that systematized reactor series data had great scientific significance and the principle of differential calculation of radiotoxicity was necessary to realize long-lived radioactive waste and uranium and thorium ore radiotoxicity equivalency conception. The calculations show that the execution of equivalency principle is possible for uranium series (4n+2, 4n+1). It is a problem for thorium. series. This principle is impracticable for neptunium series. (author)

A series defining the antiderivative of an n th order differentiable function is defined. This series provides an explicit expression for the second part of the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus and can facilitate the establishment of new antiderivative functions.

Highlights: • Materials and energy used for the construction of waste incinerators were quantified. • The data was collected from five incineration plants in Scandinavia. • Included were six main materials, electronic systems, cables and all transportation. • The capital goods contributed 2–3% compared to the direct emissions impact on GW. - Abstract: Materials and energy used for the construction of modern waste incineration plants were quantified. The data was collected from five incineration plants (72,000–240,000 tonnes per year) built in Scandinavia (Norway, Finland and Denmark) between 2006 and 2012. Concrete for the buildings was the main material used amounting to 19,000–26,000 tonnes per plant. The quantification further included six main materials, electronic systems, cables and all transportation. The energy used for the actual on-site construction of the incinerators was in the range 4000–5000 MW h. In terms of the environmental burden of producing the materials used in the construction, steel for the building and the machinery contributed the most. The material and energy used for the construction corresponded to the emission of 7–14 kg CO 2 per tonne of waste combusted throughout the lifetime of the incineration plant. The assessment showed that, compared to data reported in the literature on direct emissions from the operation of incinerators, the environmental impacts caused by the construction of buildings and machinery (capital goods) could amount to 2–3% with respect to kg CO 2 per tonne of waste combusted

Full Text Available Forecasting naturally occurring phenomena is a common problem in many domains of science, and this has been addressed and investigated by many scientists. The importance of time series prediction stems from the fact that it has wide range of applications, including control systems, engineering processes, environmental systems and economics. From the knowledge of some aspects of the previous behaviour of the system, the aim of the prediction process is to determine or predict its future behaviour. In this paper, we consider a novel application of a higher order polynomial neural network architecture called Dynamic Ridge Polynomial Neural Network that combines the properties of higher order and recurrent neural networks for the prediction of physical time series. In this study, four types of signals have been used, which are; The Lorenz attractor, mean value of the AE index, sunspot number, and heat wave temperature. The simulation results showedgood improvements in terms of the signal to noise ratio in comparison to a number of higher order and feedforward neural networks in comparison to the benchmarked techniques.

Various statistical techniques was used on five-year data from 1998-2002 of average humidity, rainfall, maximum and minimum temperatures, respectively. The relationships to regression analysis time series (RATS) were developed for determining the overall trend of these climate parameters on the basis of which forecast models can be corrected and modified. We computed the coefficient of determination as a measure of goodness of fit, to our polynomial regression analysis time series (PRATS). The correlation to multiple linear regression (MLR) and multiple linear regression analysis time series (MLRATS) were also developed for deciphering the interdependence of weather parameters. Spearman's rand correlation and Goldfeld-Quandt test were used to check the uniformity or non-uniformity of variances in our fit to polynomial regression (PR). The Breusch-Pagan test was applied to MLR and MLRATS, respectively which yielded homoscedasticity. We also employed Bartlett's test for homogeneity of variances on a five-year data of rainfall and humidity, respectively which showed that the variances in rainfall data were not homogenous while in case of humidity, were homogenous. Our results on regression and regression analysis time seriesshow the best fit to prediction modeling on climatic data of Quetta, Pakistan. (author)

Full Text Available In this paper, I want to show the role that emerging robotic technologies could play in the future in daily life of disabled people. When I talk about disability, I mean any temporary or permanent limitation due to a chronic disease and deficit, as well as, socially disadvantaged conditions, which imply functional and emotional restrictions experienced at any age. All these limitations can be characterized by a specific mental and physical impairment or, more often, by a cluster of medical impairments and social barriers. To this end, the academic literature has generally differentiated between two disability models: 'medical' versus 'social'. The main attempt of this paper consists into showing how the development of robotic technologies — particularly in assistive and healthcare fields — could allow us to go beyond this outdated dichotomy, contributing to create new philosophical premises to rethink the universality of the human condition, that is, the sense of what we intend for 'good human life'.

The terms of a conditionally convergent series may be rearranged to converge to any prescribed real value. What if the harmonic series is grouped into Fibonacci length blocks? Or the harmonic series is arranged in alternating Fibonacci length blocks? Or rearranged and alternated into separate blocks of even and odd terms of Fibonacci length?

The LHC: an accelerator of science This series of lectures is all about understanding the scientific and technological challenges of the phenomenal LHC project and assessing its innovations through their everyday applications. Come and take a sneak preview of the LHC! Communicate: the Grid, a computer of global dimensions François Grey, head of communication in CERN’s Information Technology Department How will it be possible for the 15 million billion bytes of data generated by the LHC every year to be handled and stored by a computer that doesn’t have to be the size of a skyscraper? The computer scientists have the answer: the Grid, which will harness the power of tens of thousands of computers all over the world by creating a network of computers and making them operate as one. >>> Lectures are free and require no specialist knowledge. In french. >>> By reservation only: tel. +41 (0)22 767 76 76

When some scientists hear the word "bioethics," they break out in intellectual hives. They shouldn't. Good bioethics is about enabling science to move forward. Bioethics pushes scientists to acknowledge that they operate not within a vacuum but within a society in which diverse perspectives and values must be engaged. Bioethicists give voice to those divergent perspectives and provide a framework to facilitate informed and inclusive discussions that spur progress, rather than stall it. The field is needed to advance cutting-edge biomedical research in domains in which the benefits to be had are enormous, such as genome editing, but ethical concerns persist.

Full Text Available When some scientists hear the word "bioethics," they break out in intellectual hives. They shouldn't. Good bioethics is about enabling science to move forward. Bioethics pushes scientists to acknowledge that they operate not within a vacuum but within a society in which diverse perspectives and values must be engaged. Bioethicists give voice to those divergent perspectives and provide a framework to facilitate informed and inclusive discussions that spur progress, rather than stall it. The field is needed to advance cutting-edge biomedical research in domains in which the benefits to be had are enormous, such as genome editing, but ethical concerns persist.

Full Text Available The debate on good governance had shaped public policies of many governments. This study was conducted to obtain latent perspectives of good governance. A survey was conducted using two-stage cluster sampling in the first congressional district of Davao City involving 351 respondents. Findings reveal that the notion of good governance of Dabawenyos is primarily a government to implement the rule of law; peace and order is a necessity to facilitate market efficiency. Also, it was found that political leadership creates notions of good governance; public bestowed power to its political leaders as a matter of trust. On the other hand, leaders incorporate soft and hard forms of power in delegating powers without losing control, causing a widespread and significant impact on the formation and development of Davao’s perspectives of good governance. This is the rubber band effect of good governance leadership.

Transvestism, commonly termed as cross-dressing, means to dress in the clothing of opposite sex. We describe a series of three cases with transvestism as one of their primary complaints. The discussion sheds light on the various ways in which transvestism as a symptom can present in Psychiatry. In the first two cases, there was lower intelligence. In first and third case, there were other paraphilia along with transvestism. Second case had co-morbid obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and had good response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).

Supply of international environmental public goods must meet certain conditions to be socially efficient, and several reasons explain why they are currently undersupplied. Diagnosis of the public goods failure associated with particular ecosystem services is critical to the development of the appropriate international response. There are two categories of international environmental public goods that are most likely to be undersupplied. One has an additive supply technology and the other has ...

Many time series are considered to be a superposition of several oscillation components. We have proposed a method for decomposing univariate time series into oscillation components and estimating their phases (Matsuda & Komaki, 2017 ). In this study, we extend that method to multivariate time series. We assume that several oscillators underlie the given multivariate time series and that each variable corresponds to a superposition of the projections of the oscillators. Thus, the oscillators superpose on each variable with amplitude and phase modulation. Based on this idea, we develop gaussian linear state-space models and use them to decompose the given multivariate time series. The model parameters are estimated from data using the empirical Bayes method, and the number of oscillators is determined using the Akaike information criterion. Therefore, the proposed method extracts underlying oscillators in a data-driven manner and enables investigation of phase dynamics in a given multivariate time series. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. From monthly mean north-south sunspot number data, the proposed method reveals an interesting phase relationship.

evapotranspiration were obtained. The mean values of evapotranspiration in the study period were 4.42, 3.93, 5.05, 5.49, and 5.60 mm day−1 in Esfahan, Semnan, Shiraz, Kerman, and Yazd, respectively. The Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF test was performed to the time series. The results showed that in all stations except Shiraz, time series had unit root and were non-stationary. The non-stationary time series became stationary at 1st difference. Using the EViews 7 software, the seasonal ARIMA models were applied to the evapotranspiration time series and R2 coefficient of determination, Durbin–Watson statistic (DW, Hannan-Quinn (HQ, Schwarz (SC and Akaike information criteria (AIC were used to determine, the best models for the stations were selected. The selected models were listed in Table 2. Moreover, information criteria (AIC, SC, and HQ were used to assess model parsimony. The independence assumption of the model residuals was confirmed by a sensitive diagnostic check. Furthermore, the homoscedasticity and normality assumptions were tested using other diagnostics tests. Table 2- The selected time series models for the stations Station\tSeasonal ARIMA model\tInformation criteria\tR2\tDW SC\tHQ\tAIC Esfahan\tARIMA(1, 1, 1×(1, 0, 112\t1.2571\t1.2840\t1.2396\t0.8800\t1.9987 Semnan\tARIMA(5, 1, 2×(1, 0, 112\t1.5665\t1.5122\t1.4770\t0.8543\t1.9911 Shiraz\tARIMA(2, 0, 3×(1, 0, 112\t1.3312\t1.2881\t1.2601\t0.9665\t1.9873 Kerman\tARIMA(5, 1, 1×(1, 0, 112\t1.8097\t1.7608\t1.8097\t0.8557\t2.0042 Yazd\tARIMA(2, 1, 3×(1, 1, 112\t1.7472\t1.7032\t1.6746\t0.5264\t1.9943 The seasonal ARIMA models presented in Table 2, were used at the 12 months (2004-2005 forecasting horizon. The results showed that the models produce good out-of-sample forecasts, which in all the stations the lowest correlation coefficient and the highest root mean square error were obtained 0.988 and 0.515 mm day−1, respectively. Conclusion: In the presented paper, reference evapotranspiration in the five synoptic

The course 'Transport of hazardous goods' was held in Berlin in November 1988 in cooperation with the Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung. From all lecturs, two are recorded separately: 'Safety of tank trucks - requirements on the tank, development possibiities of active and passive safety' and 'Requirements on the transport of radioactive materials - possible derivations for other hazardous goods'. The other lectures deal with hazardous goods law, requirements on packinging, risk assessment, railroad transport, hazardous goods road network, insurance matters, EC regulations, and waste tourism. (HSCH).

There is an increasing demand for satellite remote sensing data with both high spatial and temporal resolution in many applications. But it still is a challenge to simultaneously improve spatial resolution and temporal frequency due to the technical limits of current satellite observation systems. To this end, much R&D efforts have been ongoing for years and lead to some successes roughly in two aspects, one includes super resolution, pan-sharpen etc. methods which can effectively enhance the spatial resolution and generate good visual effects, but hardly preserve spectral signatures and result in inadequate analytical value, on the other hand, time interpolation is a straight forward method to increase temporal frequency, however it increase little informative contents in fact. In this paper we presented a novel method to simulate high resolution time series data by combing low resolution time series data and a very small number of high resolution data only. Our method starts with a pair of high and low resolution data set, and then a spatial registration is done by introducing LDA model to map high and low resolution pixels correspondingly. Afterwards, temporal change information is captured through a comparison of low resolution time series data, and then projected onto the high resolution data plane and assigned to each high resolution pixel according to the predefined temporal change patterns of each type of ground objects. Finally the simulated high resolution data is generated. A preliminary experiment shows that our method can simulate a high resolution data with a reasonable accuracy. The contribution of our method is to enable timely monitoring of temporal changes through analysis of time sequence of low resolution images only, and usage of costly high resolution data can be reduces as much as possible, and it presents a highly effective way to build up an economically operational monitoring solution for agriculture, forest, land use investigation

Good veterinary governance assumes the provision of veterinary services that are sustainably financed, universally available, and provided efficiently without waste or duplication, in a manner that is transparent and free of fraud or corruption. Good veterinary governance is a necessary condition for sustainable economic development insomuch as it promotes the effective delivery of services and improves the overall performance of animal health systems. This article defines governance in Veterinary Services and proposes a framework for its measurement. It also discusses the role of Veterinary Services and analyses the governance dimensions of the performance-assessment tools developed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). These tools (OIE PVS Tool and PVS Gap Analysis) track the performance of Veterinary Services across countries (a harmonised tool) and over time (the PVS Pathway). The article shows the usefulness of the OIE PVS Tool for measuring governance, but also points to two shortcomings, namely (i) the lack of clear outcome indicators, which is an impediment to a comprehensive assessment of the performance of Veterinary Services, and (ii) the lack of specific measures for assessing the extent of corruption within Veterinary Services and the extent to which demand for better governance is being strengthened within the animal health system. A discussion follows on the drivers of corruption and instruments for perception-based assessments of country governance and corruption. Similarly, the article introduces the concept of social accountability, which is an approach to enhancing government transparency and accountability, and shows how supply-side and demand-side mechanisms complement each other in improving the governance of service delivery. It further elaborates on two instruments--citizen report card surveys and grievance redress mechanisms--because of their wider relevance and their possible applications in many settings, including Veterinary

Introduction: The chin (mentum) is vital to the human facial morphology as it contributes to the facial aesthetics and harmony both on frontal and lateral views. Osseous genioplasty, the alteration of the chin through skeletal modification, can lead to significant enhancement of the overall facial profile. Aim and Study Design: A case series was designed to study the long-term results of osseous genioplasty in Indian patients with regard to patient satisfaction, complications, and long-term stability. Materials and Methods: All subjects who underwent osseous genioplasty either alone or as a component of orthognathic surgery between January 1992 and December 2010, with a minimum follow-up of 2 years, were included. The genioplasty was performed using standard protocols of assessment and execution. Post-operative evaluation included patient satisfaction, complications and radiological evidence of long-term stability. A comprehensive score was formulated for the purpose of the study. Results: Thirty-seven subjects underwent osseous genioplasty with at least 2 years of follow-up in the study period. This included 17 male and 20 female subjects, with a mean age of 22.8 years (15-52 years) and a mean follow-up of 3 years 4 months (2 years to 4 years and 11 months). Nineteen subjects underwent isolated genioplasty while 18 underwent genioplasty as a part of orthognathic surgery. The procedures included advancement (22), pushback (9), side-to-side (4) and vertical reduction (2) genioplasty. Thirty-six subjects (97.3%) were extremely pleased with the results with only one subject expressing reservations, without, however, demanding any further procedure. There were no significant complications. The osteotomised segment was well maintained in its new position with good bony union and minimal resorption. Overall, 35 (94.6%) cases had excellent results and 2 (4.4%) cases had good results, according to the comprehensive score. Conclusions: Osseous genioplasty is a safe and

Full Text Available Introduction: The chin (mentum is vital to the human facial morphology as it contributes to the facial aesthetics and harmony both on frontal and lateral views. Osseous genioplasty, the alteration of the chin through skeletal modification, can lead to significant enhancement of the overall facial profile. Aim and Study Design: A case series was designed to study the long-term results of osseous genioplasty in Indian patients with regard to patient satisfaction, complications, and long-term stability. Materials and Methods: All subjects who underwent osseous genioplasty either alone or as a component of orthognathic surgery between January 1992 and December 2010, with a minimum follow-up of 2 years, were included. The genioplasty was performed using standard protocols of assessment and execution. Post-operative evaluation included patient satisfaction, complications and radiological evidence of long-term stability. A comprehensive score was formulated for the purpose of the study. Results: Thirty-seven subjects underwent osseous genioplasty with at least 2 years of follow-up in the study period. This included 17 male and 20 female subjects, with a mean age of 22.8 years (15-52 years and a mean follow-up of 3 years 4 months (2 years to 4 years and 11 months. Nineteen subjects underwent isolated genioplasty while 18 underwent genioplasty as a part of orthognathic surgery. The procedures included advancement (22, pushback (9, side-to-side (4 and vertical reduction (2 genioplasty.Thirty-six subjects (97.3% were extremely pleased with the results with only one subject expressing reservations, without, however, demanding any further procedure. There were no significant complications. The osteotomised segment was well maintained in its new position with good bony union and minimal resorption. Overall, 35 (94.6% cases had excellent results and 2 (4.4% cases had good results, according to the comprehensive score. Conclusions: Osseous genioplasty is a safe

Among three series of 1,2,4-trioxane derivatives, five compounds showedgood in vitro antimalarial activity, three compounds of which exhibited better activity against P. falciparum resistant (RKL9) strain than the sensitive (3D7) one. Two best compounds were one from aryl series and the other from heteroaryl series with IC 50 values of 1.24 µM and 1.24 µM and 1.06 µM and 1.17 µM, against sensitive and resistant strains, respectively. Further, trioxane derivatives exhibited good binding affinity for the P. falciparum cysteine protease falcipain 2 receptor (PDB id: 3BPF) with well defined drug-like and pharmacokinetic properties based on Lipinski's rule of five with additional physicochemical and ADMET parameters. In view of having antimalarial potential, 1,2,4-trioxane derivative(s) reported herein may be useful as novel antimalarial lead(s) in the discovery and development of future antimalarial drug candidates as P. falciparum falcipain 2 inhibitors against resistant malaria.

Good teachers have been studied ever since Plato described how Socrates taught by asking questions of his audience. Recent findings shed light on two characteristics of good teachers: their personality and their ability. However, more attention has been paid to teachers' practices and opinions than to students' views. The study reported here attempted to deepen our understanding of what students think about good teachers. Students of four age groups (7, 10, 13, and 16 years of age) and teachers from primary and secondary schools were asked to write an essay on the good teacher. The correspondence between conceptual items in the essays was investigated by determining the extent to which they were used in the same essays to describe good teachers. Correspondence analysis revealed two dimensions. The first dimension reflected the preference of students and teachers for describing the good teacher in terms of either personality or ability characteristics. The second dimension was interpreted as an orientation in the essays towards either attachment to, detachment from or commitment to school and teachers. Students and teachers were compared to establish the amount of (dis)agreement about what makes a good teacher. Primary school students described good teachers primarily as competent instructors, focusing on transfer of knowledge and skills, whereas secondary school students emphasised relational aspects of good teachers. Teachers, however, considered good teachers in the first place a matter of establishing personal relationships with their students. Consequently, primary school students and teachers disagreed about the characteristics of good teachers. In secondary education, disagreements between teachers and students were relatively small. The research method of collecting free essays and utilising correspondence analysis to represent conceptual items and groups of participants seems promising as long as a theoretical framework is available to interpret the

In part 1 of this series about problems of financing capital goods the multiple and partly diametric economic effects of financing instruments were presented using the leasing procedure as an example. The result indicated that due to the complexity of these effects the choice of a specific financing instrument requires an individual consideration. Therefore, part 2 of the series introduces the method of dynamic capital budgeting which allows the instruments discussed in part 1 to be compared with each other and helps to evaluate their economic benefits. More precisely this paper focuses on a comparative analysis of the most common alternatives, leasing, credit financing and investment financing by the state. In this context, after having identified the total costs of ownership of anesthesia devices, the final asset values of the three financing instruments can be compared with each other using the method of dynamic capital budgeting. In contrast to the prevailing opinion, the results show that from a purely fiscal perspective leasing anesthesia devices is the most expensive alternative. Given the fact that no financial support is available from the state, the option of credit financing turns out to be the most preferable alternative from a relatively limited pool of possibilities. However, it still remains to be answered whether credit financing can defend this position against further, innovative forms of debt financing (e.g., factoring, asset-backed securities, hedge funds, mezzanine capital, etc.).

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Oestrogen receptor (ER positive (luminal tumours account for the largest proportion of females with breast cancer. Theirs is a heterogeneous disease presenting clinical challenges in managing their treatment. Three main biological luminal groups have been identified but clinically these can be distilled into two prognostic groups in which Luminal A are accorded good prognosis and Luminal B correlate with poor prognosis. Further biomarkers are needed to attain classification consensus. Machine learning approaches like Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs have been used for classification and identification of biomarkers in breast cancer using high throughput data. In this study, we have used an artificial neural network (ANN approach to identify DACH1 as a candidate luminal marker and its role in predicting clinical outcome in breast cancer is assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A reiterative ANN approach incorporating a network inferencing algorithm was used to identify ER-associated biomarkers in a publically available cDNA microarray dataset. DACH1 was identified in having a strong influence on ER associated markers and a positive association with ER. Its clinical relevance in predicting breast cancer specific survival was investigated by statistically assessing protein expression levels after immunohistochemistry in a series of unselected breast cancers, formatted as a tissue microarray. RESULTS: Strong nuclear DACH1 staining is more prevalent in tubular and lobular breast cancer. Its expression correlated with ER-alpha positive tumours expressing PgR, epithelial cytokeratins (CK18/19 and 'luminal-like' markers of good prognosis including FOXA1 and RERG (p<0.05. DACH1 is increased in patients showing longer cancer specific survival and disease free interval and reduced metastasis formation (p<0.001. Nuclear DACH1 showed a negative association with markers of aggressive growth and poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: Nuclear DACH1 expression

This paper explores the concept of good practice in integrating education in divided societies. Using Northern Ireland as a case study, the paper draws on data from eight schools (both integrated Catholic and Protestant, and separate) that are identified as exemplifying good practice in response to cultural diversity. Analysis is provided through…

textabstractWe analyze a simple model of local public good provision in a country consisting of a large number of heterogeneous regions, each comprising two districts, a city and a village. When districts remain autonomous and local public goods have positive spillover effects on the neighbouring

We apply the continuous-variable quantization scheme to quantize public goods game and find that new pure strategy Nash equilibria emerge in the static case. Furthermore, in the evolutionary public goods game, entanglement can also contribute to the persistence of cooperation under various population structures without altruism, voluntary participation, and punishment.

Governments around the world are often praised for good or rebuked for bad governance. This paper argues that good governance is predicated on the adoption of functional records management and the enactment of Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation by governments. Records that are accumulated and used by ...

A study examined the used goods market as it affects older adults. A set of open-ended questions was administered to 100 respondents over sixty years of age who were either retired or near retirement, married or widowed, and suburban or rural. Interviews were conducted to derermine the effects of the used goods market on the elderly consumer, to…

This article is about good governance, as presented in the 2001 EC White Paper, in relation to environmental legal policy making in Europe. First a concise analysis is made of the concept of good governance. Then, in a ``tour d’horizon’’, environmental policy programmes, legal cornerstones and

Members of the personnel are invited to take note that only parcels corresponding to official orders or contracts will be handled at CERN. Individuals are not authorised to have private merchandise delivered to them at CERN and private deliveries will not be accepted by the Goods Reception services. Goods Reception Services

Full Text Available The on going process of globalization leaves no room for Indonesian access to global investment unless the country manage to ensure the competitivess its system. Improving institutional capacity to be able of delivering good governance and good corporate governenve are inevitable. The challenge is how to allow the market to perform optimally.

This paper contends that the rationality of the logic of good reasons is constituted in its use. To support this claim, the paper presents an analysis of the relationship between being reasonable and being rational. It then considers how following the logic of good reasons leads to rationality in the behavior of individuals and groups; the latter…

Reinhard Zimmermann and Simon Whittaker, Good Faith in European Contract Law, pp 720, ISBN 0 521 77190 0, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000. This is the first publication resulting from the Trento Common Core of European Private Law project. It analyses the law relating to good faith in

textabstractIn this article the notion of exemplars is developed to study valuation processes. It argues that exemplary goods are an important ‘judgment device’ on markets of singular goods, which has so far been ignored in the literature. The article draws on Hannah Arendt’s theory of exemplars, as

Full Text Available The paper, based on the coordinates of the problems triggered by the negative externalities chain generated by the poor food supply and production system at the level of the urban collectivities, carries out an analysis focused on the identification of the tools, mechanisms, and good practices needed to ensure the sustainability of the local policies on public nutrition. The experiences in the field show that the progress is remarkable in the case of collaborative administrations aimed at enhancing the cooperation and partnership relations, based on common interests, on both internal and international collaboration level, such as The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (2015. From this perspective, the paper presents a case study, a significant experience of improving the food supply system of Bucharest population, through local public nutrition policy and the public action set implemented by Bucharest local authorities with the support of State public bodies and the representatives of civil society, materialized in the establishment of peasant markets as flea markets on the territory of Bucharest.

Peace and harmony are overrated. Though conflict-free teamwork is often held up as the be-all and end-all of organizational life, it actually can be the worst thing to ever happen to a company. Look at Lehman Brothers. When Dick Fuld took over, he transformed a notoriously contentious workplace into one of Wall Street's most harmonious firms. But his efforts backfired--directors and managers became too agreeable, afraid to rock the boat by pointing out that the firm was heading into a crisis. Research shows that the single greatest predictor of poor company performance is complacency, which is why every organization needs a healthy dose of dissent. Not all kinds of conflict are productive, of course -companies need to find the right balance of alignment and competition and make sure that people's energies are pointed in a positive direction. In this article, two seasoned business advisers lay down ground rules for the right kinds of fights. First, the stakes must be worthwhile: The issue should involve a noble purpose or create noticeable--preferably game-changing--value. Next, good fights focus on the future; they're never about placing blame for the past. And it's critical for leaders to keep fights sportsmanlike, allow informal give-and-take in the trenches, and help soften the blow for the losing parties.

Since first beam was injected on Friday, 25 March, the recommissioning of the LHC has made good progress. An event display showing the first collisions after the 2015 year-end technical stop as seen by the CMS experiment. At present, work is being performed with either probe bunches (around 1010 protons per bunch) or single nominal bunches (1.1 x 1011 protons per bunch). This procedure is intended to ensure safe operation before full qualification of the machine protection set-up. Beam has been taken up the ramp to 6.5 TeV and through the squeeze to the planned 2016 operating scenario. The optics (i.e. the global focusing properties of the whole ring) have been measured and corrected to an unprecedented level: there is now excellent agreement between the machine model and the actual LHC. Some preliminary measurements of the global aperture have been performed and there are no apparent bottlenecks. The position of the ULO (Unidentified Lying Object) had been probed and it is in a similar positio...

Full Text Available In temperate forests, formation of canopy gaps by windthrow is a characteristic natural disturbance event. Little work has been done on the effects of canopy gaps on soil properties and fauna, especially earthworms as ecosystem engineers. We conducted a study to examine the reaction of earthworms (density/biomass and different soil properties (i.e., soil moisture, pH, organic matter, total N, and available Ca to different canopy gap areas in 25-ha areas of Liresar district beech forest located in a temperate forest of Mazandaran province in the north of Iran. Soil samples were taken at 0-15, 15-30 and 30-45 cm depths from gap center, gap edge and closed canopy using core soil sampler with 81 cm2 cross section. The earthworms were collected simultaneously with the soil sampling by hand sorting method. Our study supports that the canopy gap will create a mosaic of environmental conditions. Earthworm's density and biomass tended to be higher in small canopy gaps compared with the other canopy gap areas. Earthworm's population showed decreasing trend from closed canopy to disturbed sites (gap edge and gap center. The top soil was more appropriate to presence of earthworms although ecological groups have occupied different soil layers. As a conclusion, earthworms can be introduced as good bio-indicator of environmental changes that occur by disturbance.

The volcanic island of Surtsey (Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland) is the product of a 3.5-year-long eruption that began in November 1963. Observations of magma-water interaction during pyroclastic episodes made Surtsey the type example of shallow-to-emergent phreatomagmatic eruptions. Here, in part to mark the 50(th) anniversary of this canonical eruption, we present previously unpublished major-element whole-rock compositions, and new major and trace-element compositions of sideromelane glasses in tephra collected by observers and retrieved from the 1979 drill core. Compositions became progressively more primitive as the eruption progressed, with abrupt changes corresponding to shifts between the eruption's four edifices. Trace-element ratios indicate that the chemical variation is best explained by mixing of different proportions of depleted ridge-like basalt, with ponded, enriched alkalic basalt similar to that of Iceland's Eastern Volcanic Zone; however, the systematic offset of Surtsey compositions to lower Nb/Zr than other Vestmannaeyjar lavas indicates that these mixing end members are as-yet poorly contained by compositions in the literature. As the southwestern-most volcano in the Vestmannaeyjar, the geochemistry of the Surtsey Magma Series exemplifies processes occurring within ephemeral magma bodies on the extreme leading edge of a propagating off-axis rift in the vicinity of the Iceland plume.

textabstractThis paper is concerned with forecasting univariate seasonal time series data using periodic autoregressive models. We show how one should account for unit roots and deterministic terms when generating out-of-sample forecasts. We illustrate the models for various quarterly UK consumption

This paper introduces three series of vending machines that were designed to match the interior of an office building. The three series are vending machines for cups, paper packs, cans, and tobacco. Among the three series, `Interior` series has a symmetric design that was coated in a grain pattern. The inside of the `Interior` series is coated by laser satin to ensure a sense of superior quality and a refined style. The push-button used for product selection is hot-stamped on the plastic surface to ensure the hair-line luster. `Interior Phase II` series has a bay window design with a sense of superior quality and lightness. The inside of the `Interior Phase II` series is coated by laser satin. `Interior 21` series is integrated with the wall except the sales operation panel. The upper and lower dress panels can be detached and attached. The door lock is a wire-type structure with high operativity. The operation block is coated by titanium color. The dimensions of three series are standardized. 6 figs., 1 tab.

The article presents a mathematical study which investigates the exact values of the Riemann zeta (ζ) function. It states that exact values can be determined from Fourier series for periodic versions of even power functions. It notes that using power series for logarithmic functions on this such ......The article presents a mathematical study which investigates the exact values of the Riemann zeta (ζ) function. It states that exact values can be determined from Fourier series for periodic versions of even power functions. It notes that using power series for logarithmic functions...

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to analyse a series of elements related with good teaching practices, which are of remarkable importance in the configuration of the classroom climate, especially regarding vulnerable students. We start from the perception of teachers, tutors and students from first cycle of secondary education contrasted with three instruments: the “Child Multifactorial Adaptation Test” (TAMAI and two surveys about “Perception of the classroom climate by the students” (PCA-A, and “Perception of the classroom climate by the teachers” (PCA-P. Between obtained results, as good teaching practices in relation with the climate of the classroom, it is pointed out the listening attitude from the teacher towards the alumni, their availability to accompany them on their educative process and neutralise the creation of stereotypes and excluding labels, the importance of the formation of the teachers in the emotions management, and above all, their inclination to share those emotions. Other significant results show the uneven necessity of being heard of the students, the “blind spot” of negative misconceptions between teachers and students, and the way that students’ perception change depending on their vulnerability degree and the level of failure at adapting to school they might present.

Full Text Available The article is aimed at elaborating recommendations on the selection of analytical instrumentarium for predictive analysis of revenue from the sale of goods, according to the nature of its seasonal changes. The necessity of carrying out predictive analysis of revenue from the sale of goods as an important component of its management is substantiated. The attention is focused on the necessity to use for predictive analysis of revenue from the sale of goods the trend-seasonal models which take into consideration both regularity and randomness of formation of values of levels of the series. A structural-logical model of technology of predictive analysis of revenue from the sale of goods has been proposed according to the nature of its seasonal changes. A number of criteria has been defined, which allow to reveal in a series of dynamics the presence of anomalous data, trend, and seasonal fluctuations. The iterative method of distribution of series of dynamics of revenue from the sale of goods by components has been tested. The recommendations on the choice of the trend model, which can be used to construct both point and interval predictions of the volume of proceeds from sale of goods, are provided.

Full Text Available Hundred patients (61 males, 39 females suspected to have allergic contact dermatitis were patch tested with Indian standard series (ISS. Forty four showed one or more positive reactions. The frequent sensitizers observed were nickel sulphate-12 (15%, potassium dichromate-11 (13.75%, cobalt chloride and colophony-7 (8.75% each, fragrance mix and thiuram mix-6 (7.5% each. The ISS differs from the European Standard Series by inclusion of propylene glycol, nitrofurazone, gentamicin, chlorocresol, PEG-400 and ethylenediamine chloride where assesquiterpene lactone mix and primin allergens are excluded.

The conquest of the New World gave way to the myth of the Good Savage. For the Renaissance intellectuals, the ancient ideas about the Golden Age (an ideal society promising an unending bliss) seemed to be brought back to life at last. Sharply contrasting with the European exacerbated unrest of the time, America stood for a redeeming hope, a symbol of a better future. The myth of the Good Savage assumes people to be naturally good, but civilization has led them into the realm of violence, hatred, and cruelty. Besides being naturally good, nice-minded people, "good savages" were also useful, obedient people, most likely to be easily exploited by Europeans--a source for the historical drama to come. On the verge of freeing itself from the Spanish rule, Latin America--fighting its way toward independence, had three enlightened mentors: Voltaire, Rousseau, and Montesquieu. There, again, another deep contrast arose between the abstract characteristics of Latin American aims to perfection, and people's actual behaviors. The former "good savage" became the modern "Latin American" embodying an utopia as well as a hope in his eagerness for setting up a plural, and humanized culture. The myth of the Good Savage represents a deep longing for an objectivation of the ego-ideal: it has been used, so to speak, in collective mobilizations as well as dogmatic crystallizations, to escape from ignominous realities or to project alternatives for a better socially-shared life.

Full Text Available Abstract The objectives of the professional agencies must embody provisions that promote good governance and embrace values of integrity and accountability and seek support from the public and the government of the day to provide an independent view on all matters. The universal truth is that everything should be done in the public good. Professionals form the backbone of human infrastructure in any economy, politics, social and legal growth. Their contributions through professional performance enhance the good delivery system that facilitates policies making and management for public sector. They provide the skills and talent in balancing the pursuits of maximization of services. The expression “good governance” has been constantly used lately in both public sector as well as private sector in Malaysia. In the context of a private body, it should be within the framework of the statute, which governs the body and also its constitution. In the public sector, it means that the administrators should act professionally and not to abuse or misuse the power or authority given to them. They are regarded as the trustees of the public at large. The scope of this article is on good public governance in the public sector or to be exact, good governmental administration as interpreted by the judiciary especially through its judicial review power and Islamic Perspective based on the principles of Maqasid As Shariah (Objectives of Islamic Law. Keywords: Good Governance, Public Sector, Malaysian Law, Islamic Perspective, Maqasid As-Shariah.

masses in the right parietal and parasagittal region (Figs 1a and b). Case 2: A ... scan showed hyperdense parasagittal and left cerebellopontine angle meningiomas (Figs ... Meningiomas are the most common primary non-glial brain tumours.

Full Text Available In order to assess the effects of calibration data series length on the performance and optimal parameter values of a hydrological model in ungauged or data-limited catchments (data are non-continuous and fragmental in some catchments, we used non-continuous calibration periods for more independent streamflow data for SIMHYD (simple hydrology model calibration. Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency and percentage water balance error were used as performance measures. The particle swarm optimization (PSO method was used to calibrate the rainfall-runoff models. Different lengths of data series ranging from one year to ten years, randomly sampled, were used to study the impact of calibration data series length. Fifty-five relatively unimpaired catchments located all over Australia with daily precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and streamflow data were tested to obtain more general conclusions. The results show that longer calibration data series do not necessarily result in better model performance. In general, eight years of data are sufficient to obtain steady estimates of model performance and parameters for the SIMHYD model. It is also shown that most humid catchments require fewer calibration data to obtain a good performance and stable parameter values. The model performs better in humid and semi-humid catchments than in arid catchments. Our results may have useful and interesting implications for the efficiency of using limited observation data for hydrological model calibration in different climates.

Reservoir Computing is a bio-inspired computing paradigm for processing time dependent signals that is particularly well suited for analog implementations. Our team has demonstrated several photonic reservoir computers with performance comparable to digital algorithms on a series of benchmark tasks such as channel equalisation and speech recognition. Recently, we showed that our opto-electronic reservoir computer could be trained online with a simple gradient descent algorithm programmed on an FPGA chip. This setup makes it in principle possible to feed the output signal back into the reservoir, and thus highly enrich the dynamics of the system. This will allow to tackle complex prediction tasks in hardware, such as pattern generation and chaotic and financial series prediction, which have so far only been studied in digital implementations. Here we report simulation results of our opto-electronic setup with an FPGA chip and output feedback applied to pattern generation and Mackey-Glass chaotic series prediction. The simulations take into account the major aspects of our experimental setup. We find that pattern generation can be easily implemented on the current setup with very good results. The Mackey-Glass series prediction task is more complex and requires a large reservoir and more elaborate training algorithm. With these adjustments promising result are obtained, and we now know what improvements are needed to match previously reported numerical results. These simulation results will serve as basis of comparison for experiments we will carry out in the coming months.

Full Text Available We are presenting results comparison of three artificial intelligence algorithms in a classification of time series derived from musical excerpts in this paper. Algorithms were chosen to represent different principles of classification – statistic approach, neural networks and competitive learning. The first algorithm is a classical k-Nearest neighbours algorithm, the second algorithm is Multilayer Perceptron (MPL, an example of artificial neural network and the third one is a Learning Vector Quantization (LVQ algorithm representing supervised counterpart to unsupervised Self Organizing Map (SOM.After our own former experiments with unlabelled data we moved forward to the data labels utilization, which generally led to a better accuracy of classification results. As we need huge data set of labelled time series (a priori knowledge of correct class which each time series instance belongs to, we used, with a good experience in former studies, musical excerpts as a source of real-world time series. We are using standard deviation of the sound signal as a descriptor of a musical excerpts volume level.We are describing principle of each algorithm as well as its implementation briefly, giving links for further research. Classification results of each algorithm are presented in a confusion matrix showing numbers of misclassifications and allowing to evaluate overall accuracy of the algorithm. Results are compared and particular misclassifications are discussed for each algorithm. Finally the best solution is chosen and further research goals are given.

In this study, two series of data for extreme rainfall events are generated based on Annual Maximum and Partial Duration Methods, derived from 102 rain-gauge stations in Peninsular from 1982-2012. To determine the optimal threshold for each station, several requirements must be satisfied and Adapted Hill estimator is employed for this purpose. A semi-parametric bootstrap is then used to estimate the mean square error (MSE) of the estimator at each threshold and the optimal threshold is selected based on the smallest MSE. The mean annual frequency is also checked to ensure that it lies in the range of one to five and the resulting data is also de-clustered to ensure independence. The two data series are then fitted to Generalized Extreme Value and Generalized Pareto distributions for annual maximum and partial duration series, respectively. The parameter estimation methods used are the Maximum Likelihood and the L-moment methods. Two goodness of fit tests are then used to evaluate the best-fitted distribution. The results showed that the Partial Duration series with Generalized Pareto distribution and Maximum Likelihood parameter estimation provides the best representation for extreme rainfall events in Peninsular Malaysia for majority of the stations studied. Based on these findings, several return values are also derived and spatial mapping are constructed to identify the distribution characteristic of extreme rainfall in Peninsular Malaysia.

We developed and tested an automated algorithm that analyzes thermal infrared satellite time series data to detect and quantify the excess energy radiated from thermal anomalies such as active volcanoes. Our algorithm enhances the previously developed MODVOLC approach, a simple point operation, by adding a more complex time series component based on the methods of the Robust Satellite Techniques (RST) algorithm. Using test sites at Anatahan and Kīlauea volcanoes, the hybrid time series approach detected ~15% more thermal anomalies than MODVOLC with very few, if any, known false detections. We also tested gas flares in the Cantarell oil field in the Gulf of Mexico as an end-member scenario representing very persistent thermal anomalies. At Cantarell, the hybrid algorithm showed only a slight improvement, but it did identify flares that were undetected by MODVOLC. We estimate that at least 80 MODIS images for each calendar month are required to create good reference images necessary for the time series analysis of the hybrid algorithm. The improved performance of the new algorithm over MODVOLC will result in the detection of low temperature thermal anomalies that will be useful in improving our ability to document Earth's volcanic eruptions, as well as detecting low temperature thermal precursors to larger eruptions.

The performance of environmental monitoring heavily depends on the availability of consecutive observation data and it turns out an increasing demand in remote sensing community for satellite image data in the sufficient resolution with respect to both spatial and temporal requirements, which appear to be conflictive and hard to tune tradeoffs. Multiple constellations could be a solution if without concerning cost, and thus it is so far interesting but very challenging to develop a method which can simultaneously improve both spatial and temporal details. There are some research efforts to deal with the problem from various aspects, a type of approaches is to enhance the spatial resolution using techniques of super resolution, pan-sharpen etc. which can produce good visual effects, but mostly cannot preserve spectral signatures and result in losing analytical value. Another type is to fill temporal frequency gaps by adopting time interpolation, which actually doesn't increase informative context at all. In this paper we presented a novel method to generate satellite images in higher spatial and temporal details, which further enables satellite image time series simulation. Our method starts with a pair of high-low resolution data set, and then a spatial registration is done by introducing LDA model to map high and low resolution pixels correspondingly. Afterwards, temporal change information is captured through a comparison of low resolution time series data, and the temporal change is then projected onto high resolution data plane and assigned to each high resolution pixel referring the predefined temporal change patterns of each type of ground objects to generate a simulated high resolution data. A preliminary experiment shows that our method can simulate a high resolution data with a good accuracy. We consider the contribution of our method is to enable timely monitoring of temporal changes through analysis of low resolution images time series only, and usage of

This study attempted to assess the notion that a “good divorce” protects children from the potential negative consequences of marital dissolution. A cluster analysis of data on postdivorce parenting from 944 families resulted in three groups: cooperative coparenting, parallel parenting, and single parenting. Children in the cooperative coparenting (good divorce) cluster had the smallest number of behavior problems and the closest ties to their fathers. Nevertheless, children in this cluster did not score significantly better than other children on 10 additional outcomes. These findings provide only modest support for the good divorce hypothesis. PMID:22125355

good multidimensional yield to accommodate situations where the yield from a stock affects the ecosystem, economic and social benefits, or sustainability. We demonstrate in a European example that PGMY is a practical concept. As PGMY provides a safe operating space for management that adheres...... that broader ecosystem, economic, and social objectives are addressed. We investigate how the principles of a “pretty good yield” range of fishing mortalities assumed to provide >95% of the average yield for a single stock can be expanded to a pretty good multispecies yield (PGMY) space and further to pretty...

Full Text Available The OpenMP standard defines an Application Programming Interface (API for shared memory computers. Since its introduction in 1997, it has grown to become one of the most commonly used API's for parallel programming. But success in the market doesn't necessarily imply successful computer science. Is OpenMP a "good" programming environment? What does it even mean to call a programming environment good? And finally, once we understand how good or bad OpenMP is; what can we do to make it even better? In this paper, we will address these questions.

Consumer goods containing radionuclides are increasingly utilized, sometimes for having chemical or technological properties which nonradioactive materials cannot fulfill (e.g. uranium paints) or it may be that radioactivity is especially required (e.g. fluorescent paints, fire-alarm-boxes, electronic instruments). The present study makes a compilation of consumer goods containing radioactive substances which are available to the general public in the nine countries of the Community, carries out a medium and long term study to assess how accumulated radiation from these goods could affect the population as a whole, and proposes measures to minimize the effects of such accumulation

Full Text Available Time series prediction has become more popular in various kinds of applications such as weather prediction, control engineering, financial analysis, industrial monitoring, etc. To deal with real-world problems, we are often faced with missing values in the data due to sensor malfunctions or human errors. Traditionally, the missing values are simply omitted or replaced by means of imputation methods. However, omitting those missing values may cause temporal discontinuity. Imputation methods, on the other hand, may alter the original time series. In this study, we propose a novel forecasting method based on least squares support vector machine (LSSVM. We employ the input patterns with the temporal information which is defined as local time index (LTI. Time series data as well as local time indexes are fed to LSSVM for doing forecasting without imputation. We compare the forecasting performance of our method with other imputation methods. Experimental results show that the proposed method is promising and is worth further investigations.

Full Text Available Faced with a lack of natural resources Cape Verde has made good governance one of its most marketable products. Running parallel to the institutionalisation of democratic politics there has been an overhaul and growing sophistication in public administration, though certain weaknesses persist. This report argues that it is reform and improvement in this area in particular that has enabled this small island state to punch above its weight and achieve remarkable social, economic and political results. But will the successful formula of the past decade prove sufficient for the future? Poverty and unemployment have by no means been conquered. Much of the economic growth has been based in the tourist sector and the government is well aware of the dangers of over-reliance on a single industry. Cape Verde’s midway location between South America and Europe and its increasing international transport connections will continue to offer advantages to drug traffickers. The next few years of the world financial crisis will show whether marketing good governance is enough and whether this is the model for small resource developing states. Der Inselstaat Kap Verde hat seine Anstrengungen zu guter Regierungsführung (Good Governance erfolgreich demonstriert. Parallel zur Institutionalisierung demokratischer Regierungsstrukturen wurde die Verwaltung reformiert und modernisiert, wenn auch immer noch Problembereiche erkennbar sind. Der Autor sieht insbesondere in den politischen und administrativen Reformen den Hintergrund für die erfolgreiche soziale, wirtschaftliche und politische Entwicklung dieser kleinen Inselrepublik. Aber wird dieses Rezept, das im vergangenen Jahrzehnt seine Wirksamkeit beweisen konnte, auch in Zukunft ausreichend sein? Armut und Unterbeschäftigung sind keineswegs besiegt. Ein Großteil des Wirtschaftswachstums basiert auf dem Tourismussektor; die Regierung ist sich der Gefahr wohl bewusst, die in zu großer Abhängigkeit von einem

Full Text Available Granulomatous cheilitis is an idiopathic inflammatory disorder characterized by persistent, asymptomatic, diffuse swelling of one or both lips. It is also considered as an oligosymptomatic or monosymptomatic form of Melkersson–Rosenthal syndrome. We herewith report five cases of granulomatous cheilitis of which three cases were females and two were males. The mean age was 41 years. The average duration of symptoms was 2.5 years (2–3 years. Four patients presented with asymptomatic persistent swelling of the upper lip and one patient with lower lip. Two cases showed associated fissuring and angular cheilitis. One case also showed involvement of the left cheek. All the patients showed moderate improvement with combination of minocycline and intralesional triamcinolone therapy.

Full Text Available Assessing the achievement of Indonesian government institutions in implementing e-government has been conducted since around a decade ago. Several national assessments are available with almost the same ranking results. There is an agreement that the ultimate goal of e-government implementation is to achieve good government governance (GGG, while success stories of e-government require good governance practices. This study explored the correlation between e-government achievement and GGG achievement in Indonesia. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to characterize the relationship strength between e-government assessment results and good governance assessment results. The data were collected from institutions that participated in e-government and good governance assessments. The results showed that the correlation between these two entities is not very strong. Most cases showed that e-government implementation and the achievement of good governance have only a moderate positive correlation and none of the studied cases indicated a significant connection. This result can be attributed to the lack of emphasis on goals achievement in the assessments. Thus, it is recommended that future Indonesian e-government assessments should involve impact indicators.

behavior in terms of increasing group well-being. We report a decision and game theoretical analysis of efficacy in step-level public goods (SPGs). Previous research shows a positive relation between efficacy and contributions to SPGs and explains this relation by a purely motivational account. We

Neonatal chest radiographs were evaluated and 3 variables were analyzed: collimation, positioning and presence of artifacts. This study is a pilot for develop a model of good practices in radiology, which is in development phase. The index of analyzed radiographs considered inadequate is expressive and it shows the need for a model that may be part of an optimization program to medical exposures. (author)

...) The evidence that was considered in making the determination or decision clearly shows on its face... 20 Employees' Benefits 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Good cause for reopening. 404.989 Section 404.989 Employees' Benefits SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION FEDERAL OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS AND DISABILITY...

Negativity is a news ideology, and its negative effects on attitude formation are widely documented. Contrary to this view, the present study demonstrates that negative economic news can in fact be good news. Based on a two-wave national panel survey and a media content analysis, we show that

A central concept for understanding social dilemma behavior is the efficacy of an actor's cooperative behavior in terms of increasing group well-being. We report a decision and game theoretical analysis of efficacy in step-level public goods (SPGs). Previous research shows a positive relation

... live longer and adopt a more western life style? Dr. Glass: The good news is that—with ... through Fogarty's programs have gone on to assume leadership positions in their home countries. Our vision is ...

... this article Daily Tips for Good Oral Hygiene Bacteria can live in your mouth in the form of plaque, causing cavities and gingivitis, which can lead to periodontal (gum) disease. In order to keep your mouth ...

Public participation, Good Environmental Governance and fulfilment of Environmental rights. ... international developments the role that public participation is expected to play in state governments\\' fulfilment of citizens\\' environmental rights.

Good e-Governance and Cadastral Innovation: In Pursuit of a ... The development and implementation of an e-cadastre, called Project Vulindlela, is underway in. South Africa yet ...... In Proceeding of the 5th FIG Regional Conference. Accra,.

Previous European experience, research and design for composite slabs with profiled steel decking are discussed. Present efforts to harmonize composite slab design and good construction practice are presented. Future European developments, for the next five years, are postulated.

Nnamdi Azikiwe University Journal of International Law and Jurisprudence ... The call for good corporate governance was as a result of the scandal and collapse ... This paper made use of legislation, regulations (Codes of best practices) and ...

We depend on talks to communicate our work, and we spend much of our time as audience members in talks. However, few scientists are taught the well-established principles of giving good talks. Here, I describe how to prepare, present, and answer questions in a scientific talk. We will see how a talk prepared with a single premise and delivered with good eye contact is clear and enjoyable.

The poster presented will give an overview of a study towards a "Space Road Show". The topic of this show is space science. The target group is adolescents, aged 12 to 15, at Dutch high schools. The show and its accompanying experiments would be supported with suitable educational material. Science teachers at schools can decide for themselves if they want to use this material in advance, afterwards or not at all. The aims of this outreach effort are: to motivate students for space science and engineering, to help them understand the importance of (space) research, to give them a positive feeling about the possibilities offered by space and in the process give them useful knowledge on space basics. The show revolves around three main themes: applications, science and society. First the students will get some historical background on the importance of space/astronomy to civilization. Secondly they will learn more about novel uses of space. On the one hand they will learn of "Views on Earth" involving technologies like Remote Sensing (or Spying), Communication, Broadcasting, GPS and Telemedicine. On the other hand they will experience "Views on Space" illustrated by past, present and future space research missions, like the space exploration missions (Cassini/Huygens, Mars Express and Rosetta) and the astronomy missions (Soho and XMM). Meanwhile, the students will learn more about the technology of launchers and satellites needed to accomplish these space missions. Throughout the show and especially towards the end attention will be paid to the third theme "Why go to space"? Other reasons for people to get into space will be explored. An important question in this is the commercial (manned) exploration of space. Thus, the questions of benefit of space to society are integrated in the entire show. It raises some fundamental questions about the effects of space travel on our environment, poverty and other moral issues. The show attempts to connect scientific with

Full Text Available Cell-cell communication, also termed quorum sensing (QS, is a widespread process that coordinates gene expression in bacterial populations. The generally accepted view is that QS optimizes the cell density-dependent benefit attained from cooperative behaviors, often in the form of secreted products referred to as “public goods.” This view is challenged by an increasing number of cell-associated products or “private goods” reported to be under QS-control for which a collective benefit is not apparent. A prominent example is nucleoside hydrolase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a periplasmic enzyme that catabolizes adenosine. Several recent studies have shown that private goods can function to stabilize cooperation by co-regulated public goods, seemingly explaining their control by QS. Here we argue that this property is a by-product of selection for other benefits rather than an adaptation. Emphasizing ecophysiological context, we propose alternative explanations for the QS control of private goods. We suggest that the benefit attained from private goods is associated with high cell density, either because a relevant ecological condition correlates with density, or because the private good is, directly or indirectly, involved in cooperative behavior. Our analysis helps guide a systems approach to QS, with implications for antivirulence drug design and synthetic biology.

A host of events and activities await visitors to the LHC Open Days on 5 and 6 April. A highlight will be the physics shows funded by the European Physical Society (EPS), which are set to surprise and challenge children and adults alike! School children use their experience of riding a bicycle to understand how planets move around the sun (Copyright : Circus Naturally) Participating in the Circus Naturally show could leave a strange taste in your mouth! (Copyright : Circus Naturally) The Rino Foundation’s experiments with liquid nitrogen can be pretty exciting! (Copyright: The Rino Foundation)What does a bicycle have in common with the solar system? Have you ever tried to weigh air or visualise sound? Ever heard of a vacuum bazooka? If you want to discover the answers to these questions and more then come to the Physics Shows taking place at the CERN O...

Full Text Available The Internet has changed media fandom in two main ways: it helps fans connect with each other despite physical distance, leading to the formation of international fan communities; and it helps fans connect with the creators of the TV show, deepening the relationship between TV producers and international fandoms. To assess whether Italian fan communities active online are indeed part of transnational online communities and whether the Internet has actually altered their relationship with the creators of the original text they are devoted to, qualitative analysis and narrative interviews of 26 Italian fans of American TV shows were conducted to explore the fan-producer relationship. Results indicated that the online Italian fans surveyed preferred to stay local, rather than using geography-leveling online tools. Further, the sampled Italian fans' relationships with the show runners were mediated or even absent.

This presentation provides an overview of the SHC 2.61 Community-Based Final Ecosystem Goods and Services Project and other ecosystem services activities in the Office of Research and Development. Specifically, this presentation addressed a series of topics: Provide an overview ...

textabstractPublished in the series 'Aviation Law & Policy'. We only have to look around us on the road while we travel to work or home, or to use our eyes at a railway station to know that the transport of goods takes up a lot of the room our modern day infrastructures provide. Sometimes

Showing that one really "wants" the job entails more than just really wanting the job. An interview is part Broadway casting call, part intellectual dating game, part personality test, and part, well, job interview. When there are 300 applicants for a position, many of them will "fit" the required (and even the preferred) skills listed in the job…

Describes a two-day activity in which elementary students examine voting rights, the right to assemble, and women's suffrage. Explains the game, "Assemble, Reassemble," and a student-produced talk show with five students playing the roles of leaders of the women's suffrage movement. Profiles Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Susan…

Laser shows and beam effects have been a source of entertainment since its first public performance May 9, 1969, at Mills College in Oakland, California. Since 1997, the Photonics Center, NgeeAnn Polytechnic, Singapore, has been using laser shows as a teaching tool. Students are able to exhibit their creative skills and learn at the same time how lasers are used in the entertainment industry. Students will acquire a number of skills including handling three- phase power supply, operation of cooling system, and laser alignment. Students also acquire an appreciation of the arts, learning about shapes and contours as they develop graphics for the shows. After holography, laser show animation provides a combination of the arts and technology. This paper aims to briefly describe how a krypton-argon laser, galvanometer scanners, a polychromatic acousto-optic modulator and related electronics are put together to develop a laser projector. The paper also describes how students are trained to make their own laser animation and beam effects with music, and at the same time have an appreciation of the operation of a Class IV laser and the handling of optical components.

The Last Great American Picture Show brings together essays by scholars and writers who chart the changing evaluations of the American cinema of the 1970s, sometimes referred to as the decade of the lost generation, but now more and more recognized as the first New Hollywood, without which the

We find infinite series in calculus to be one of the most confusing topics our students encounter. In this note, we look at some issues that our students find difficult or ambiguous involving the Ratio Test, the Root Test, and also the Alternating Series Test. We offer some suggestions and some examples, which could be a supplement to the set of…

This article studies the convergence of the infinite series of the reciprocals of the Catalan numbers. We extract the sum of the series as well as some related ones, illustrating the power of the calculus in the study of the Catalan numbers.

This paper studies the predictability of cryptocurrencies time series. We compare several alternative univariate and multivariate models in point and density forecasting of four of the most capitalized series: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple and Ethereum. We apply a set of crypto–predictors and rely...

This study investigates the buying of stolen goods in Denmark. The study consists of a self-report survey based on a representative sample of the general Danish population (n = 2311) and six focus group interviews consisting of both informants experienced with buying stolen goods and of those...... with no experience (n = 37). The survey showed that 4.8% had bought stolen goods, while 15.7% were uncertain whether they had bought stolen goods. Young people, males, and unemployed were more likely to purchase stolen goods. No clear correlation between income and buying stolen goods was found. Focus groups suggest...... the buyers of stolen goods did not buy stolen goods because they could not afford legitimate products. We recommend targeting consumers not interested in buying stolen goods with information about how to avoid such activity....

Quality of data has many faces. Primarily, it has to be relevant to its users. Relevance is an outcome that is achieved through a series of steps starting with a planning process that link user needs to data requirements. It continues through acquisi...

Full Text Available This study wants to know and understand whether good governance principles have been well applied as well as the factors influencing optimization of the implementation of good governance principles on the academic field in an effort to realize good university governance in Bina Nusantara University. The study aims to evaluate the implementation of good governance principles on the academic field, know the factors that affect the implementation of good governance principles on the academic field, and improve and develop the academic areas in accordance with good governance principles in order to maximize the role of Bina Nusantara University as Good University Governance. The approach model used to understand the implementation of good governance principles was a model to educational institution using the 8 principles, namely academic freedom, shared governance, clear rights and responsibilities, selection at merit, financial stability, accountability, regular testing of standards, and the importance of close cooperation. Research used qualitative method with descriptive analysis, by analyzing the factors influencing optimization of the implementation of good governance principles, particularly on academic areas. The results achieved there were 18 factors that affect the optimization of the implementation of good governance principles. Then the factors affected the optimization ofthe implementation of good governance principles the most are operational centralization and academic decentralization which were the novelty of this study.

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the strategic alignment of companies producing capital goods and deploying competitive priorities, from the standpoint of dyadic relationships. To collect the data, semi-structured questionnaires were used for a sample consisting of 113 respondents from 87 companies producing capital goods, all operating in Brazil. The data were analyzed using non-parametric statistical techniques. More specifically, an analysis of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W showed that product (or component price and performance are the main competitive priorities for companies in this sector. Thus, evidence was found that companies producing capital goods are strategically aligned from the standpoint of dyadic relationships with their suppliers and customers, with price being the main criterion, depending on the downstream focus of the company, through the performance of the product (or component.

A quantum mechanical hypothesis test is presented for the hypothesis that a certain setup produces a given quantum state. Although the classical and the quantum problems are very much related to each other, the quantum problem is much richer due to the additional optimization over the measurement basis. A goodness of fit test for i.i.d quantum states is developed and a max-min characterization for the optimal measurement is introduced. We find the quantum measurement which leads both to the maximal Pitman and Bahadur efficiencies, and determine the associated divergence rates. We discuss the relationship of the quantum goodness of fit test to the problem of estimating multiple parameters from a density matrix. These problems are found to be closely related and we show that the largest error of an optimal strategy, determined by the smallest eigenvalue of the Fisher information matrix, is given by the divergence rate of the goodness of fit test.

Schroedinger equation for a polynomial potential with the highest order term having an even power and a positive coefficient is solved for high eigenvalues E n in two different ways after Liouville transformation, (a) converting the differential equation into integral equation and solving it iteratively and (b) by the WKB method. While the series solution in powers of 1/√(E n ) from (b) is known to diverge, we show that the one from (a) converges. We show then that asymptotic re-expansion of the convergent series from (a) agrees with the divergent series from (b). Actually, we have been able to show the agreement only up to order (1/√(E n )) 5 , but we believe that it holds to all orders. If this is true, the divergent WKB series can be reorganized into a convergent series, which is in fact obtained by the method of iteration (a)

In this thesis, we construct a Massey triple product on the Deligne cohomology of the modular curve with coefficients in symmetric powers of the standard representation of the modular group. This result is obtained by constructing a Massey triple product on the extension groups in the category of admissible variations of mixed Hodge structure over the modular curve, which induces the desired construction on Deligne cohomology. The result extends Brown's construction of the cup product on Deligne cohomology to a higher cohomological product. Massey triple products on Deligne cohomology have been previously investigated by Deninger, who considered Deligne cohomology with trivial real coefficients. By working over the reals, Deninger was able to compute cohomology exclusively with differential forms. In this work, Deligne cohomology is studied over the rationals, which introduces an obstruction to applying Deninger's results. The obstruction arises from the fact that the integration map from the de Rham complex to the Eilenberg-MacLane complex of the modular group is not an algebra homomorphism. We compute the correction terms of the integration map as regularized iterated integrals of Eisenstein series, and show that these integrals arise in the cup product and Massey triple product on Deligne cohomology.

The Goodness-of-Fit model [Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development. New York: Brunner/Mazel] proposes that a child's temperament interacts with the environment to influence child outcomes. In the past, researchers have shown how the association between the quality of the teacher-child relationship in daycare and child…

Full Text Available This paper attempts to ascertain the impact of participative management on workflows, its influence on sales output and how well the concept is practised by consumer goods companies in Nigeria. Study adopted the survey design; questionnaires were used to collect necessary data from sales personnel across 10 states in South-Ssouth and South East Nigeria. Respondents rated the concept and application of participative management as it affects their work environment and sales output of the company. Statistical results of the study showed that 92.08% of the respondents believe that there are benefits derivable from participative management and that these benefits improve both sales output and workflow. 48% believe that participative management is practised in firms. Hypotheses tested using the chi-square test statistic revealed that: Consumer goods companies benefit from practising participative management, Participative management has effect on sales output of consumer goods companies, and the concept of participative management is not fully practised by consumer goods companies in Nigeria. These findings indicate that participative management principles need to be inculcated fully in the running of sales organisations so as to increase sales volume and ultimately boost the profit of consumer goods companies

The field of statistics not only affects all areas of scientific activity, but also many other matters such as public policy. It is branching rapidly into so many different subjects that a series of handbooks is the only way of comprehensively presenting the various aspects of statistical methodology, applications, and recent developments. The Handbook of Statistics is a series of self-contained reference books. Each volume is devoted to a particular topic in statistics, with Volume 30 dealing with time series. The series is addressed to the entire community of statisticians and scientists in various disciplines who use statistical methodology in their work. At the same time, special emphasis is placed on applications-oriented techniques, with the applied statistician in mind as the primary audience. Comprehensively presents the various aspects of statistical methodology Discusses a wide variety of diverse applications and recent developments Contributors are internationally renowened experts in their respect...

It is show by a simple Regge-type fit suggested recently by Donnachie and Landshoff that the universal pomeron contribution to various total cross sections may be represented by an alternating series a - b log s + c (log s) 2 corresponding to a series of Regge multipoles. (author). 9 refs., 5 tabs., 5 figs

This note examines some statistical features of the major league baseball World Series. We show that, based upon actual historical data, we cannot reject the hypothesis that the two World Series teams are evenly matched. Yet, we can also calculate the relative strengths of the teams that would best match the actual outcomes, and we find that those…

This article describes a laboratory module on Fourier series and Gibbs phenomenon which was undertaken by 32 Year 12 students. It shows how the use of CAS played the role of an "amplifier" by making higher level mathematical concepts accessible to students of year 12. Using Mathematica students were able to visualise Fourier series of…

This paper explores whether the concept of social capital as popularized by Robert Putnam is a good social science concept. Taking Gerring’s work on concept evaluation as the starting point, the paper first presents a set of criteria for conceptual ‘goodness’ and discusses how social capital...... performs on these criteria. It is argued that social capital eventually may be a good concept if it can be shown empirically to be a unidimensional concept. An empirical section therefore explores the validity of the unidimensionality assumption and rejects it in four separate tests at both the individual...... and aggregate level. We conclude that even if social capital has been a remarkably productive idea, it is not a good concept as most popular conceptualizations define social capital as several distinct phenomena or as phenomena that already have been conceptualized under other labels....

This paper reflects on how good parenthood is done through ‘we-ness’. We draw on empirical work published by Danish and Swedish researchers to argue that we-ness constitutes an ideal in contemporary family life. In our recent edited volume Doing good parenthood, we argue that the term parenthood...... and family life. With this paper, we explore and discuss the concepts of we-ness, childhood and parenthood further, foremost by analyzing how ideals of equality are translated into the everyday practices of doing we-ness and family life. How and by whom is we-ness established and are there intensive...... and light versions of we-ness? How can we understand the relation between we-ness and goodness in parenthood?...

Full Text Available This study aims to examine the influence of internal control and good cooperative governance partially and simultaneously to the performance of cooperatives in West Java Province. The research method used in this research is descriptive and verification. The sample in this research is 22 boards as manager of cooperative in West Java Province. The data used in the research is the primary data through questionnaire collection. Validity and reliability testing is performed before hypothesis testing. This research uses multiple regression analysis technique. Based on hypothesis testing obtained 1 internal control has no significant effect on performance 2 good cooperative governance has a significant effect on performance and 3 internal control and good cooperative governance have a significant effect on performance.

Supply of international environmental public goods must meet certain conditions to be socially efficient, and several reasons explain why they are currently undersupplied. Diagnosis of the public goods failure associated with particular ecosystem services is critical to the development of the appropriate international response. There are two categories of international environmental public goods that are most likely to be undersupplied. One has an additive supply technology and the other has a weakest link supply technology. The degree to which the collective response should be targeted depends on the importance of supply from any one country. In principle, the solution for the undersupply lies in payments designed to compensate local providers for the additional costs they incur in meeting global demand. Targeted support may take the form of direct investment in supply (the Global Environment Facility model) or of payments for the benefits of supply (the Payments for Ecosystem Services model).

The Conformity of Goods in International Sales gives a systematic analysis of Article 35 in the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG). Based on a detailed analysis of the most important cases and leading academic writing, Article 35 is described...... 9 CISG and the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts. The relation to domestic rules competing with Article 35, for instance the rules on validity and the rules on non-contractual liability, are analysed and so is the relation to selected domestic sales law, e.g. the United...... as a historical compromise between caveat emptor and caveat venditor and it is shown that the Article is to be supplemented by the general rules of contract law inside and outside the convention, such as the principle of good faith in Article 7 CISG, the rules of interpretation and usage in Article 8 and Article...

Some aspects of accommodation may be slightly abnormal (or different) in myopes, compared with accommodation in emmetropes and hyperopes. For example, the initial magnitude of accommodative adaptation in the dark after nearwork is greatest in myopes. However, the critical test is to assess this initial accommodative aftereffect and its subsequent decay in the light under more natural viewing conditions with blur-related visual feedback present, if a possible link between this phenomenon and clinical myopia is to be considered. Subjects consisted of adult late- (n = 11) and early-onset (n = 13) myopes, emmetropes (n = 11), and hyperopes (n = 9). The distance-refractive state was assessed objectively using an autorefractor immediately before and after a 10-minute binocular near task at 20 cm (5 diopters [D]). Group results showed that myopes were most susceptible to the nearwork aftereffect. It averaged 0.35 D in initial magnitude, with considerably faster posttask decay to baseline in the early-onset (35 seconds) versus late-onset (63 seconds) myopes. There was no myopic aftereffect in the remaining two refractive groups. The myopes showed particularly striking accommodatively related nearwork aftereffect susceptibility. As has been speculated and found by many others, transient pseudomyopia may cause or be a precursor to permanent myopia or myopic progression. Time-integrated increased retinal defocus causing axial elongation is proposed as a possible mechanism.

Many scientists and engineers consider themselves poor writers or find the writing process difficult. The good news is that you do not have to be a talented writer to produce a good scientific paper, but you do have to be a careful writer. In particular, writing for a peer-reviewed scientific or engineering journal requires learning and executing a specific formula for presenting scientific work. This book is all about teaching the style and conventions of writing for a peer-reviewed scientific journal. From structure to style, titles to tables, abstracts to author lists, this book gives practical advice about the process of writing a paper and getting it published.

Tobacco companies have jumped on the Corporate social responsibility (CSR) bandwagon as a tentative to be societally accepted as responsible actors and good corporate citizens. This is however not possible for two reasons. First, the product they sell is lethal and thus not compatible with the precondition of doing no harm to be a good corporate citizen. Second, the behavior of tobacco firms is not responsible, being illustrated by four examples: junk science versus sound science strategy, seducing young smokers, political lobbying and getting customers on new markets. To conclude, three implications for regulating the activities of the tobacco industry are given.

The aim of this paper is to explore whether the concept of social capital as popularized by Robert Putnam is a good social science concept. Taken Gerring’s and Adcock and Collier’s work on concept formation and measurement validity as the starting point, the paper first discusses necessary...... conditions for concepts to be good in a strict sense. Afterwards, an empirical section explores the validity of the unidimensionality assumption of most definitions of social capital. This assumption is rejected in four separate tests at both the micro and macro level. A final section therefore discusses...

The Good, the Right, and the Fair is a comprehensive introduction to contemporary moral and political philosophy especially suited for undergraduate students in medicine and the life sciences. The book covers first questions concerning the good: What makes a life worth living? Is it only humans who...... matter morally? Is welfare all that matters? It then proceeds to a discussion of the right: How ought we to act? The major ethical theories of the western tradition are presented and their strengths and weaknesses discussed. Finally, key aspects of the philosophical discussion of the fair, including...

Full Text Available AbstractThe phenomenon and corruption action still becomes a fact that cannot be finished. One of causes is mentality of the world. It makes the cause why corruption becomes a massive culture. Beside restraining orientation of the world, good governance must become the priority. The result is that corruption does not become the culture anymore, and slowly but sure, it can be eliminated, or at least it can decrease.Kata-kata kuncikorupsi, budaya korupsi, indeks persepsi korupsi, good governance

We consider Eisenstein series appearing as coefficients of curvature corrections in the low-energy expansion of type II string theory four-graviton scattering amplitudes. We define these Eisenstein series over all groups in the E n series of string duality groups, and in particular for the infinite-dimensional Kac-Moody groups E 9, E 10 and E 11. We show that, remarkably, the so-called constant term of Kac-Moody-Eisenstein series contains only a finite number of terms for particular choices of a parameter appearing in the definition of the series. This resonates with the idea that the constant term of the Eisenstein series encodes perturbative string corrections in BPS-protected sectors allowing only a finite number of corrections. We underpin our findings with an extensive discussion of physical degeneration limits in D < 3 space-time dimensions.

Full Text Available A new similarity measure, called SimilB, for time series analysis, based on the cross-ÃŽÂ¨B-energy operator (2004, is introduced. ÃŽÂ¨B is a nonlinear measure which quantifies the interaction between two time series. Compared to Euclidean distance (ED or the Pearson correlation coefficient (CC, SimilB includes the temporal information and relative changes of the time series using the first and second derivatives of the time series. SimilB is well suited for both nonstationary and stationary time series and particularly those presenting discontinuities. Some new properties of ÃŽÂ¨B are presented. Particularly, we show that ÃŽÂ¨B as similarity measure is robust to both scale and time shift. SimilB is illustrated with synthetic time series and an artificial dataset and compared to the CC and the ED measures.

Fairly early in the development of the theory of summability of divergent series, the concept of convergence factors was recognized as of fundamental importance in the subject. One of the pioneers in this field was C. N. Moore, the author of the book under review.... Moore classifies convergence factors into two types. In type I he places the factors which have only the property that they preserve convergence for a convergent series or produce convergence for a summable series. In type II he places the factors which not only maintain or produce convergence but have the additional property that

This text for undergraduate and graduate students illustrates the fundamental simplicity of the properties of orthogonal functions and their developments in related series. Starting with a definition and explanation of the elements of Fourier series, the text follows with examinations of Legendre polynomials and Bessel functions. Boundary value problems consider Fourier series in conjunction with Laplace's equation in an infinite strip and in a rectangle, with a vibrating string, in three dimensions, in a sphere, and in other circumstances. An overview of Pearson frequency functions is followe

It is demonstrated how to generate time series with tailored nonlinearities by inducing well-defined constraints on the Fourier phases. Correlations between the phase information of adjacent phases and (static and dynamic) measures of nonlinearities are established and their origin is explained. By applying a set of simple constraints on the phases of an originally linear and uncorrelated Gaussian time series, the observed scaling behavior of the intensity distribution of empirical time series can be reproduced. The power law character of the intensity distributions being typical for, e.g., turbulence and financial data can thus be explained in terms of phase correlations.

-term survival of bacteria sealed in frozen conditions for up to one million years. Our results show evidence of bacterial survival in samples up to half a million years in age, making this the oldest independently authenticated DNA to date obtained from viable cells. Additionally, we find strong evidence...... geological timescales. There has been no direct evidence in ancient microbes for the most likely mechanism, active DNA repair, or for the metabolic activity necessary to sustain it. In this paper, we couple PCR and enzymatic treatment of DNA with direct respiration measurements to investigate long...... that this long-term survival is closely tied to cellular metabolic activity and DNA repair that over time proves to be superior to dormancy as a mechanism in sustaining bacteria viability....

Cultural tourism expanded in the last half of the twentieth century, and the interest of visitors has come to include caves containing archaeological remains. Some show caves attracted mass tourism, and economical interests prevailed over conservation, which led to a deterioration of the subterranean environment and the rock art. The presence and the role of microorganisms in caves is a topic that is often ignored in cave management. Knowledge of the colonisation patterns, the dispersion mechanisms, and the effect on human health and, when present, over rock art paintings of these microorganisms is of the utmost importance. In this review the most recent advances in the study of microorganisms in caves are presented, together with the environmental implications of the findings.

Many novel methods have been proposed for mapping time series into complex networks. Although some dynamical behaviors can be effectively captured by existing approaches, the preservation and tracking of the temporal behaviors of a chaotic system remains an open problem. In this work, we extended the visibility graphlet approach to investigate both discrete and continuous chaotic time series. We applied visibility graphlets to capture the reconstructed local states, so that each is treated as a node and tracked downstream to create a temporal chain link. Our empirical findings show that the approach accurately captures the dynamical properties of chaotic systems. Networks constructed from periodic dynamic phases all converge to regular networks and to unique network structures for each model in the chaotic zones. Furthermore, our results show that the characterization of chaotic and non-chaotic zones in the Lorenz system corresponds to the maximal Lyapunov exponent, thus providing a simple and straightforward way to analyze chaotic systems.

Humans have the unique ability to create art, but non-human animals may be able to discriminate "good" art from "bad" art. In this study, I investigated whether pigeons could be trained to discriminate between paintings that had been judged by humans as either "bad" or "good". To do this, adult human observers first classified several children's paintings as either "good" (beautiful) or "bad" (ugly). Using operant conditioning procedures, pigeons were then reinforced for pecking at "good" paintings. After the pigeons learned the discrimination task, they were presented with novel pictures of both "good" and "bad" children's paintings to test whether they had successfully learned to discriminate between these two stimulus categories. The results showed that pigeons could discriminate novel "good" and "bad" paintings. Then, to determine which cues the subjects used for the discrimination, I conducted tests of the stimuli when the paintings were of reduced size or grayscale. In addition, I tested their ability to discriminate when the painting stimuli were mosaic and partial occluded. The pigeons maintained discrimination performance when the paintings were reduced in size. However, discrimination performance decreased when stimuli were presented as grayscale images or when a mosaic effect was applied to the original stimuli in order to disrupt spatial frequency. Thus, the pigeons used both color and pattern cues for their discrimination. The partial occlusion did not disrupt the discriminative behavior suggesting that the pigeons did not attend to particular parts, namely upper, lower, left or right half, of the paintings. These results suggest that the pigeons are capable of learning the concept of a stimulus class that humans name "good" pictures. The second experiment showed that pigeons learned to discriminate watercolor paintings from pastel paintings. The subjects showed generalization to novel paintings. Then, as the first experiment, size reduction test

In its 47th edition, the CERN Summer Student programme has welcomed almost 200 young students from around the world. As it proves to do each year, the programme has provided a unique experience for all participants. CERN Summer Students 2009 in the Microcosm garden.During the summer months between June and August, your normal lunchtime routine is inevitably disrupted by the small stampede of students that leaves the Main Auditorium just around midday and starts queuing in Restaurant 1. When this happens, you can’t help but notice that the CERN Summer Students have arrived! With its rich lecture series, inspirational visits and actual work experience, the Summer Student programme provides a real chance to get acquainted with a career in particle physics, engineering and computation. The programme includes a morning lecture series that covers a large variety of topics, from particle physics to engineering, information technology and ...

reflect that respondents take a more positive stand on the original series, whereas the Anglophone adaptations are viewed more critically in an almost knee-jerk fashion, and I analyse the possible reasons why this may be. However, instead of only arguing that these stark differences in reception...... are caused by the originals’ superior quality insofar as story-telling, acting and aesthetics are concerned – as do the respondents – I investigate the reasons behind why an Anglophone audience such as my Sydney-based respondents may receive the Nordic originals more generously than the American and British......, I also point to a comparable study on the Danish and foreign reception of the Pan-European crime series Mord uden grænser/The Team, which had similar findings (Jacobsen and Jensen 2016)....

Full Text Available The traditional methods to teach biochemistry in most universities are based on the memorization of chemical structures, biochemical pathways and reagent names, which is many times dismotivating for the students. We presently describe an innovative, interactive and alternative method for teaching biochemistry to medical and nutrition undergraduate students, called the Biochemistry Show (BioBio Show.The Biobio show is based on active participation of the students. They are divided in groups and the groups face each other. One group faces another one group at a time, in a game based on true or false questions that involve subjects of applied biochemistry (exercise, obesity, diabetes, cholesterol, free radicals, among others. The questions of the Show are previously elaborated by senior students. The Biobio Show has four phases, the first one is a selection exam, and from the second to the fourth phase, eliminatory confrontations happen. On a confrontation, the first group must select a certain quantity of questions for the opponent to answer. The group who choses the questions must know how to answer and justify the selected questions. This procedure is repeated on all phases of the show. On the last phase, the questions used are taken from an exam previously performed by the students: either the 9-hour biochemistry exam (Sé et al. A 9-hour biochemistry exam. An iron man competition or a good way of evaluating undergraduate students? SBBq 2005, abstract K-6 or the True-or-False exam (TFE (Sé et al. Are tutor-students capable of writing good biochemistry exams? SBBq 2004, abstract K-18. The winner group receives an extra 0,5 point on the final grade. Over 70% of the students informed on a questionnaire that the Biobio Show is a valuable tool for learning biochemistry. That is a new way to enrich the discussion of biochemistry in the classroom without the students getting bored. Moreover, learning

Time series of atmospheric pressure data, collected over a period of several years, were analysed to provide undergraduate students with educational examples of application of simple statistical methods of analysis. In addition to basic methods for the analysis of periodicities, a comparison of two forecast models, one based on autoregression algorithms, and the other making use of an artificial neural network, was made. Results show that the application of artificial neural networks may give slightly better results compared to traditional methods.

We report a series of experiments investigating the influence of feeling lucky or unlucky on people's choice of known-risk or ambiguous options using the traditional Ellsberg Urns decision-making task. We induced a state of feeling lucky or unlucky in subjects by using a rigged wheel-of-fortune game, which just missed either the bankrupt or the jackpot outcome. In the first experiment a large reversal of the usual ambiguity aversion effect was shown, indicating that feeling ...

The reactor point kinetics equations have been subjected to intense research in an effort to find simple yet accurate numerical solutions methods. The equations are very stiff numerically, meaning that there is a wide variation in the decay constants, so that using a particular time step in the numerical solution may provide sufficient accuracy for the group, but not for another. Several solutions techniques have been presented on the point kinetics equations with varying degrees of complexity. These include Power Series Solutions, CORE, PCA, Genapol and Taylor series methods. In this research, algorithms were developed based on the first and second order Taylor series expansion and simulated in LabVIEW to solve the Reactor Point Kinetics equations using block diagram nodes implemented within stacked sequences. The algorithms developed were fast,accurate and simple to code. Several reactivity insertions were used to simulate the change in neutron population with time. The LabVIEW- Taylor series solutions were compared with other solution techniques such as Power Series Solutions, CORE, PCA, Genapol and McMahon and Pierson's Taylor series approximation. The results of LabVIEW-Taylor series technique used by McMahon and Pearson The LabVIEW-implemented techniques were found to agree very well with these other methods. At 1x10 -8 s the neutron population was 1.000220 neutrons / cm 3 , at 1 x 10 -2 s it was 2.007681 neutrons / cm 3 and at 1x10 -1 s it was 2.075317 neutrons / cm 3 ; same results reported by Genapol for a fast reactor, it produced good and accurate results and compared very favorably with other methods found in the literature. Using much smaller time steps to the order or 10 -8 s commensurate with fast reactor parameters also produced very satisfactory results, indicating that the LabVIEW-based Taylor series technique is suitable for simulating the kinetics of fast reactors as well as thermal reactors. Algorithms developed that included second order terms

This paper analyzes how moral costs affect individual support of morally difficult group decisions. We study a threshold public good game with moral costs. Motivated by recent empirical findings, we assume that these costs are heterogeneous and consist of three parts. The first one is a standard

In this paper, we present a novel system for selling bundles of news items. Through the system, customers bargain with the seller over the price and quality of the delivered goods. The advantage of the developed system is that it allows for a high degree of flexibility in the price, quality, and

Emerging trends point to good governance as a panacea towards .... to Third World countries by the western countries after the cold war era between USA and USSR. ... active participation of the citizens with the government in policy making, .... Academic experts in public administration and several American public ...

Apprenticeships are changing. The increasing proportions of people entering apprenticeships at various levels of ability and backgrounds are stimulating demand for alternative pathways to completions. This good practice guide assembles the key findings for education practitioners and workplace supervisors from three related research reports on…

The purpose of this article is to identify the considerations weighed in regulation with good practice standards. In this article, potential due process problems with regulation via legal standards are identified and compared to other considerations, which this regulation technique meets....

WAHAB, Ph.D, Sociology Department, International Islamic University, Malaysia, Email: ... Such regimes do not promote and practice good governance. ... The control that parliament exerts over the executive stems from one fundamental principle. ... taxation is necessary for the public service as declared by the crown.

Finding a good join order is crucial for query performance. In this paper, we introduce the Join Order Benchmark (JOB) and experimentally revisit the main components in the classic query optimizer architecture using a complex, real-world data set and realistic multi-join queries. We investigate the

Hans Henrik Knoop explores ways in which the core ideas of the GoodWork theoretical framework can be related to ongoing issues of import. In particular, he analyzes the ways in which democratic values are at risk when conditions of alignment do not obtain-for example, when the state explicitly...... that are crucial to a democratic polity....

Why should you give great talks? How to make great slides? How to give a talk? How to make good presentations?; 3rd cycle; Warning: download the powerpoint version to get animations. Animated slides in the PDF version may look cluttered.

A group of 50 good readers and a group of 50 poor readers of Grade 5 matched for age and intelligence and selected on the basis of their proficiency in reading comprehension were tested for their competence in word reading and the process of planning at three different levels, namely, perceptual, memory and conceptual in order to study the…

Road freight transport is an essential element in the present socio-economic structure of society. This society is consumption oriented, characterised by large concentrations of population, and concentrated centers of production an consumption that are geographically far apart. Thus heavy goods

In the current and foreseeable harsh UK higher education environment, aspiring to best-practice financial management will be key to ensuring the prosperity--and indeed the survival--of any university. In this article I argue that good university financial management should provide stability to the institution, allow for investment as well as…

NEW, GOOD DOCTORS FOR AN ALTERED SOCIETY*. ANrHONY BARKER ... the concept of trying to become one is just a psychological throwback? ... called all these things and many things besides, yet this ... sex (women ought to be better at it than men, but often are not) .... foundations to lay for a specialized career.

From conceptualization to ideas on practical policy recommendations, The Good Cause presents a state-of-the-art study on the causes of corruption. A cohort of internationally-recognized researchers from the various academic fields that study corruption come together to explain their different

Full Text Available "Genetically modified (GM food has become very important in the field of research, as a result of its expansion in recent decades. As the right to food is a human right, it cannot be left in the hands of private sector developments exclusively, due to the capacity of the public sector to limit or drive it, and in any case, contributing to food safety. To achieve this, and for its cross-border development, GM needs to be treated as Global Public Goods (GPG, defined as pure or impure public goods that cannot be provided or regulated from a national or regional level, but from a global perspective. Its definition as GPG, and the fact of being public goods, assumes greater involvement by the public sector for its supply or regulation. It is therefore necessary to analyze the positive and negative externalities generated by transgenic foods becoming public goods, but from a global perspective. The difficulty is, that according to the author, GMs are positive or negative, so that there is no consensus to restrict and even prevent them or encourage them. But, there is a consensus on some key issues of GM food, such as improving productivity, contributing to the reduction of the species, the dependence of farmers, or monopoly companies with the patent. Identifying these issues can serve to initiate the appropriate regulation."

Humor is not only instinctive and a basic human need, but it also is very good medicine. Laughter boosts the immune system, lowers blood pressure, reduces stress hormones, and is linked to healthy functioning organs. [This article was written with Mylo Redwater Smith.

There are at least two ways to think about the Common Good. One is the intentional, direct attempt to provide benefits to those beyond oneself and those connected to oneself. The second consists of those unintended consequences of the pursuit of some other benefit, usually private but not necessarily so. Probably the best-known example is that of…

It is apparent that many of us live in a hyper-economized world, in which personal identities and routine practices are significantly oriented towards production and consumption of for-profit goods and services. Extreme consumerism resulting from this orientation often is associated with many personal, social, and environmental problems.…

In this article, I address the question of whether science can and should be seen as a common good. For this purpose, the first section focuses on the notion of (scientific) knowledge and examines its main characteristics. I discuss and assess the core view of analytic epistemology, that knowledge

Improving public school education, especially for the poor, requires defining and articulating some vision of the common good. This article reviews key positions taken by liberals and conservatives regarding educational reform during the 19th and 20th centuries and critiques these positions with regard to their disservice to the poor. (IAH)

status on democracy, good governance and socio-economic development. Democracy is being embraced across the globe by most civilized and ... amenities and infrastructure, employment, health, security and constant power ... based on life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment and gross domestic ..... In some Asian.

Epistemic criteria are the standards used to evaluate scientific products (e.g., models, evidence, arguments). In this study, we analyzed epistemic criteria for good models generated by 324 middle-school students. After evaluating a range of scientific models, but before extensive instruction or experience with model-based reasoning practices,…

The main objective of this paper is to discuss a complex and yet not taken in consideration global public good: money. Money is a social convention created and accepted by people in order to facilitate economic transactions, being a symbol, without an int

Full Text Available The concept of “good governance” was used for the first time in the 1989 World Bank Report – Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth. A Long-Term Perspective Study – and has already made history in international studies, especially after the breakdown of the communist regimes. The governance has to do with authority, decision-making and accountability.The good governance is defined as the capacity of the government to manage a nation’s affaires, to provide economic development, welfare for citizens, and social protection for the poor. In this article,the concept of good governance is analysed according to two main dimensions: the normative dimension which comprises principles, values and norms that are guiding the international community and the governments in the management of policymaking process;the descriptive dimension which refers to the practical aspects of implementing the good governance’s standards as policies, programmes and structural reforms with the aim of solving or ameliorating the problems of developing countries.

Full Text Available ... and what other conditions are associated with RA. Learning more about your condition will allow you to ... Arthritis Educational Video Series Psoriatic Arthritis 101 2010 E.S.C.A.P.E. Study Patient Update Transitioning ...

This paper addresses the topic of classifying financial time series in a fuzzy framework proposing two fuzzy clustering models both based on GARCH models. In general clustering of financial time series, due to their peculiar features, needs the definition of suitable distance measures. At this aim, the first fuzzy clustering model exploits the autoregressive representation of GARCH models and employs, in the framework of a partitioning around medoids algorithm, the classical autoregressive metric. The second fuzzy clustering model, also based on partitioning around medoids algorithm, uses the Caiado distance, a Mahalanobis-like distance, based on estimated GARCH parameters and covariances that takes into account the information about the volatility structure of time series. In order to illustrate the merits of the proposed fuzzy approaches an application to the problem of classifying 29 time series of Euro exchange rates against international currencies is presented and discussed, also comparing the fuzzy models with their crisp version.

Equipped with drinking straws and stirring straws, a teacher can help students understand how resistances in electric circuits combine in series and in parallel. Follow-up suggestions are provided. (ZWH)

In order to obtain a good description of the exceedances in a partial duration series it is often necessary to divide the year into a number (2-4) of seasons. Hereby a stationary exceedance distribution can be maintained within each season. This type of seasonal models may, however, not be suitable...... for prediction purposes due to the large number of parameters required. In the particular case with exponentially distributed exceedances and Poissonian occurrence times the precision of the T year event estimator has been thoroughly examined considering both seasonal and nonseasonal models. The two......-seasonal probability density function of the T year event estimator has been deduced and used in the assessment of the precision of approximate moments. The nonseasonal approach covered both a total omission of seasonality by pooling data from different flood seasons and a discarding of nonsignificant season(s) before...

RUVIVAL Publication Series is a compilation of literature reviews on topics concerned with the revitalisation of rural areas. RUVIVAL Publication Series is part of the e-learning project RUVIVAL and each of the three contributions in this publication is connected to further interactive multimedia material, which can be reached under www.ruvival.de. The first literature review is concerned with urine utilisation as a fertiliser in agriculture. Urine contains four important nutrients for pla...

The United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has supported a series of high explosive calibration experiments that were conducted in the Degelen Mountain area of the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) in the Republic of Kazakhstan (ROK). This paper will provide an overview of the second and third tests of this series which have been designated Omega-2 and Omega-3. Omega-2 was conducted on Saturday, September 25, 1999 and Omega-3 on Saturday, July 29, 2000. (author)

This paper studies the predictability of cryptocurrencies time series. We compare several alternative univariate and multivariate models in point and density forecasting of four of the most capitalized series: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ripple and Ethereum. We apply a set of crypto–predictors and rely on Dynamic Model Averaging to combine a large set of univariate Dynamic Linear Models and several multivariate Vector Autoregressive models with different forms of time variation. We find statistical si...

Nanotechnology and engineered nanomaterials are currently used in wide variety of cosmetic products, while their use in food industry, packaging materials, household chemicals etc. still includes a limited number of items and does not show a significant upward trend. However, the problem of priority nanomaterials associated risks is relevant due to their high production volumes and an constantly growing burden on the environment and population. In accordance with the frequency of use in mass-produced consumer goods, leading priority nanomaterials are silver nanoparticles (NPs) and (by a wide margin) NPs of gold, platinum, and titanium dioxide. Frequency of nanosized silica introduction into food products as a food additive, at the moment, seems to be underestimated, since the use of this nanomaterial is not declared by manufacturers of products and objective control of its content is difficult. Analysis of literature data on toxicological properties of nanomaterials shows that currently accumulated amount of information is sufficient to establish the safe doses of nanosized silver, gold and titanium dioxide. Data have been provided in a series of studies concerning the effect of oral intake of nanosized silica on the condition of laboratory animals, including on the performance of the immune system. The article examines the existing approaches to the assessment of population exposure to priority nanomaterials, characteristics of existing problems and risk management. (paper)